We Could've Been
by Council of Intellectuals
Summary: In the aftermath of Church's final death, the Reds, Blues, and Ex-Freelancers seek solace and comfort. When Dr. Grey invites them to a recently excavated artifact named "Well of Penitence", they have no idea what could possibly happen. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

We Could've Been...

 _The first thing lost in war...is innocence. Morals, laws, humanity, it all crumbles in the face of conflict. The loss of innocence doesn't change you. It merely releases you. Everyone has a monster, a demon held in check by society and civilization. War removes these shackles. After the dust has settled, the graves have been filled, the memorials paid, the victims of war look back at what they once had. They look back to a time when they were human._

The final death of Leonard Church shook the crew to their core. He'd always been there, not always as a supporting pillar that held together a structure, but more of a neglected problem, like a leaky plumbing system or a family of raccoon squatters. However, he'd been much more than that as of late, and his sacrifice showed that, beneath those callous words and false projections of hatred, he really did care about them. Everyone on Chorus was feeling down.

The armies of Chorus spoke of him as a hero, a larger-than-life character. To them, he was the selfless hero who had sacrificed himself for them.

The Blood Gulch crew was uncharacteristically quiet. On the red team, everyone had toned down hostilities toward their former enemies from a certain canyon. Sarge rarely made negative comments about blue team anymore, Simmons was spending a lot of time on his own, isolating himself from the rest of his team, and Grif, well, Grif was eating. A lot more than usual. Donut could be found crying to himself from time to time, and even Lopez was somewhat unhappy. If anyone could understand his speech, they would have learned that he was genuinely upset that his only computerized friend was now gone.

Blue team and the Freelancers were in a similar state of shock and grief. Tucker, like Red team, was mostly quiet and spent most of his time in his quarters talking with the leftover AI fragments that were once his friend. Caboose was mostly confused and sad. He kept asking people where Church was, and nobody really had the heart to try to make Caboose understand where his best friend had gone. Washington had become more reclusive, merely going through the days as an automaton. His movements had become almost mechanical, as he thought of the person who had helped give him a second chance.

Doc was melancholy and Dr. Grey had become subdued. She may have been insane, but that didn't mean she wasn't a person too. She spent a lot of time talking to the Reds and Blues, trying to help the recover from their loss. However, most of this time and effort was directed towards Carolina.

Carolina had been the most affected by his death. Her worst fear was becoming true. She had already lost a family, and Church's death could signal the demise of the rest of this ragtag group. When Church died, her father died, once and for all. She knew that her real father was gone, and she had seen Epsilon as more of friend and companion, but she was terrified to see another one of the few ties she had with her old family vanish. So she began training, harder, faster, longer. Wash and Dr. Grey did what they could to bring her food and water and try to convince her to rest, but she never did. She pushed herself far beyond her limits everyday, and only stopped when she collapsed.

The UNSC had arrived, an bore with them clean-up crews and personnel to help restore the planet. The Reds, Blues, and Freelancers, their ticket to freedom finally here, had no incentive to leave. So they stayed, helped their newfound friends clean up their homes and move on from a comrade's death. Or at least, pretend to.

Three Months Pass...

Things began to return to normal after three months. That's not to say that the Reds and Blues forgot about the deceased Blue Leader, but his death and the agony of suffering that they felt began to lessen. They no longer felt as if they were carrying boulders on their backs. Carolina stopped pushing herself as hard as possible after Dr. Grey found York's video diary in the memory fragment of Delta and used it to calm the ex-freelancer down. Caboose finally realized that Church was gone, but surprisingly took it somewhat decently. Grif stopped eating enough food for the entire planet's population, and the teams mostly recovered.

Everyone began to find something to live for, a purpose to stay. Carolina wanted to protect her new "family" of misfits while Wash stayed to protect the people Church gave his life for. Red Team wanted to honor Epsilon in their own way, by "utterly kicking the sh*t out of every son of a b*tch dumb enough to deface the only blue that we trusted" as Sarge eloquently put it. Caboose found solace and comfort in Freckles, and Tucker more or less returned to normal. The only real differences between the current crew and that of three months ago was that they now carried themselves with a sense of purpose and avoided talking about Church as much as they could.

One day, Dr. Grey invited them along to a recently excavated alien artifact located in the mountains, its location revealed to them by the ever helpful Santa AI. Naturally the squad agreed, and together, they set off towards the mountains.

"Those mountains were formed from dormant volcanoes, making their hillsides naturally fertile areas for agriculture. The view from the peaks are glorious-" the words spilled from Dr. Grey's mouth as a waterfall pours from a cliff, only to be cut off by Tucker, who was determined to get his two cents in.

"Glorious view of the peaks, booyah! Bow Chicka Bow Wow!"

Only to be followed by the inevitable answer to such vulgarity.

"Shut up Tucker!"

With the expected deviation from the norm.

"I like cats."

Once again tailed by the inevitable answer to such stupidity.

"Shut up Caboose."

"Are we playing the silent game?"

"Yes."

There was no way they could have known, that today, was the day everything went to hell.


	2. Chapter 2

"Santa...what is this?" asked Carolina.

"Ah, it's obviously the North Pole." said Caboose.

"Caboose, it's not the North Pole. This isn't even Earth!"

"Tucker. All you have to do. Is believe."

"I believe alright! I believe that you're an idiot."

"Can it both of you!" yelled Carolina.

"Okay mean lady who is sometimes nice."

"Santa. What is this place?"

"This is the construct 'Well of Penitence'."

"What does it do?"

"My creators used it to repent their sins. I am unsure of how it works, but they either came back content and satisfied that they had atoned for their sins, or they never came back at all."

Wash had to clarify, "This machine. It gives people a second chance?"

"In a way, yes. I am unsure how the machine works, as each of my creators spoke of vastly different experiences."

To say that the freelancers were intrigued was an understatement. They wanted to wash away the the blood that stained their armor and begin a new life.

The Reds and Blues didn't really care, but if their friends wanted to use this, then they should go with them. Because if there was one thing their adventures had told them, it was that they were all family. Family is everything.

Before the silence that signaled brooding and contemplation smothered everyone in the room, Dr. Grey asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we use it." was the immediate reply from Carolina.

"I second that."

Tucker looked at Wash in surprise.

"I thought you'd be a bit more wary of unexplained alien tech that even the aliens don't know much about. Especially after blowing up one of their death machines."

"That was different. Besides, Santa said that this was a device that his creators used to help them deal with their problems. I think it's safe to say that we've got a lot of problems."

"Can't argue with that."

"What problems? No problem can't be solved with a shotgun." said Sarge.

"A lot of them." That was from Wash.

"Emotional ones." That was Carolina.

"Tucker." That was Caboose.

"Grif." That was Simmons.

"Huh. Those first two, unless you're planning suicide, I guess there are problems that a shotgun can't solve. Well, at least those last two can be dealt with with a little help from my trusty companion."

"In all seriousness though. Are you two really going to-?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. Then we're going to go with you." said Tucker.

There was a brief moment of shock and surprise at Tucker's instant pledge of help, and then an expected exclamation of "WHAT?!" from the two freelancers.

"I said we're going with you."

"We-we are?" asked Simmons

"Yes."

"Of course we are" said Doc. "They're friends."

"I, personally think that this is a good idea. Carolina and Washington both have PTSD, and I believe that they would benefit greatly from learning how to deal with their problems. And, as they are my patients, it is my duty to stay with them." interjected Dr. Grey.

"Okay, but I still don't know how that involves us." said Simmons.

And then, in one of those completely unexpected occurrences where Caboose actually said something helpful, they were convinced. All it took was one sentence, six words, thirty letters and one apostrophe.

"Because Church would've wanted to go."

With that, they were in.

"Santa, could you turn this thing up?" asked Carolina.

"With pleasure." said Santa.

There was a buildup of noise, as machinery that had lain dormant for millennia began to work again, power was drawn from recently reawakened supplies, and the Well of Penitence began to work its magic. There was a flash of blinding light.

And the crew was gone.

_-=/On Remnant\=-_

In the middle of a ruined city, a once proud expanse of land that formerly belonged to Vale, an explosion not unlike a massive flashbang grenade scorched the retinas of anyone watching. Had there been anyone alive to watch.

Immediately after the light faded, a chorus of groans and complaints could be heard.

"Ugh. Why is it that these aliens can build huge floating things and laser guns, but not make their teleporters want to make me throw up?" asked Tucker.

"Hey, at least you're not covered in black stuff that won't come off your armor." said Grif.

Little did they know that Grimm essence would replace soot very soon.

"Guys, give me a sitrep." said Carolina.

"What?" asked Doc.

"I'm not doing a situp. Those things are hard." said Grif.

"Bow Chicka Bow Wow!" said Tucker.

"Shotgun is ready to kill something. And so am I." said Sarge.

"Green light Carolina." said Wash.

"Red light." said Caboose.

"I'm fine." said Dr. Grey.

"I don't think I can do a sit up." said Simmons.

"I wanna hurl." said Donut.

"Don't throw up in your helmet. I'm pretty sure it will kill you." said Wash.

"Okay, good to see that everyone's fine." said Carolina. "Now, where are we?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" asked Tucker.

"Santa, where are we?" asked Carolina.

No response.

"Seriously, where are we?" asked Simmons.

"I've got a better question."

Everyone looked at Dr. Grey.

"What could have done this?"

Everyone looked at the ruined and foreboding remnants of the once-proud city.

"And is whatever it could be still here?"

Everyone looked around frantically, as small traces of fear, uncertainty, and panic emerged. All negative emotions. Emotions that would draw the perpetrators of the crime they now stood in. Emotions that would draw the Grimm.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of malice filled eyes stared at them. Red, crimson eyes the color of blood. It searched the oddly dressed group, settling on one teal armored female who seemed to have more negativity than the others, save for the grey-and-yellow one. Its mind made up, it leapt forward...

...and struck.


	3. Chapter 3

"I feel like something's off" said Carolina.

"Yeah, what gave it away? The tons of empty buildings? The eerie wind? Your friend?" asked Tucker.

"What friend?"

"Yeah, Carolina, never thought of you as a bird person?" joked Wash.

"What. Are. You. Talking about?" The words could not be harsher if hurled at the two males along with broken glass and molotov cocktails.

"You seriously don't feel anything?" asked Wash.

"On your back." said Tucker.

Carolina realized there was a series of tapping and scratching coming from the back of her armor. She reached back with one arm and pulled a...bird off of her back.

"It's just the local wildli-" Carolina paused mid sentence as she noticed the blood red eyes of the baby nevermore.

"Fascinating! Intact AND alive specimens of the native fauna! Not any species I've seen, appears to have a thick outer skull and red eyes. I would love to-" ranted Dr. Grey, only to be cut off by Carolina dropping the bird on the ground and crushing its skull with an armored boot.

"What?"

Everybody still stared at her.

"What?"

"Carolina, sometimes it scares me how cold you can be." said Wash.

"Come on, that bird was creepy. It was trying to peck me."

"Bow Chicka-"

"Tucker, if you finish that sentence, I will kill you."

Not wanting to antagonize Carolina after seeing her brutally end the baby Nevermore's life, he wisely took the recommended action. He shut up.

"Darn! I really wanted to cut it open." said Dr. Grey.

"Uh, guys?" asked Grif.

Noticing the not-so-subtle quaver in his voice, Wash responded.

"What is it?"

"I think the bird has friends."

Ten helmets, ten heads, and twenty eyes turned to look in the direction of Grif's pointing finger. And what they saw scared a lot of them.

"That. That doggie has spikes. I'm scared."

The beowolf snarled and began to stalk toward the group.

"What. The. F*ck. Is that."

"Caboose is right. That thing is scary!" squealed Donut.

The beowolf howled, the sound echoing and bouncing of the walls of the nearby buildings.

"And now the mean spiky doggie has friends. Who are also mean and spiky."

"Open fire!"

With those two words, the rest of the crew was galvanized into action. A series of clacking noises heralded the approaching storm of gunfire, and while completely unnecessary, made the reds and blues appear menacing. Then there was a series of sharp reports, and the four beowolves fell, brought down by at least half-a-dozen bullet holes in each one.

"Ooh! Specimens for further analysis!"

Dr. Grey rushed forward, and attempted to vivisect the beowolf, only to find that the corpse turned to mist. She looked at the other bodies, and saw the same phenomenon happen.

"Such a damn tease! I can't cut them open without the blasted things dying!"

"We need to move. Those monsters attacked us after being attracted by the first one's howl. I'm willing to bet that these things were the ones who killed the original inhabitants of the city, and these probably aren't the only ones here."

"Wash is right. We need to move. Those gunshots could probably be heard from across the city." said Carolina.

"But where do we go? We have no idea where we are!" protested Grif.

"Look, over to the North! There are city lights. It looks like...there's a tower. A glowing green light is in it. The city appears to be inhabited!" cried Simmons.

"Alright, let's move people!" said Carolina.

On Remnant, there were several rules that everyone knew by heart. Don't try to eat dust, don't antagonize Grimm, and NEVER go into the forest after dark. Unfortunately, the Reds and Blues had no knowledge of these rules, and were completely unaware of the danger they were literally walking into as they disappeared into the forest.

"Hey guys, does anybody feel like we're being watched?" asked Grif.

"You keep asking that." said Simmons, "It's getting annoying."

"Since when is Grif not annoying" quipped Tucker.

"Y'know, that problem could be easily resolved with my trusty shotgun." said Sarge. "You know I'd be willing."

"I wonder if there's anybody out here." asked Wash.

"Maybe we can ask those guys." said Caboose.

"Who? You see people?" asked Carolina.

"Yeah. The people with the glowing red eyes. The people hiding behind the bushes and making weird growly noises."

Everyone jumped, pulled out various weapons and looked around. Sensing that their prey had gotten wind of their presence, two Ursas and another four beowolves charged from the bushes. One beowolf was brought down by accurate fire from Carolina's pistol and Wash's battle rifle. Another was shredded from automatic fire from Freckles. Donut hurled a grenade and killed an Ursa. Grif and Simmons hurt a beowolf enough to make it stumble, and Sarge ran forward and blew its head of with his trusty shotgun.

"You just got Sarged, dirtbag!"

Tucker killed the last beowolf with his sword. The last Ursa ran forward, only to be vaporized by a rocket from O'Malley.

"Haha! Feeble creatures, you are not match for me! Burn and die! Mwahahaha!"

The skirmish was over as quickly as it had started, but the noises from their weapons took a lot longer to die down. Howls and growls could be heard from every direction. They could hear things charging from behind. They were in the middle of an unknown forest against unknown enemies. They had no support, and their only hope was an unknown city far off in the distance. All in all, their situation could be summed up in two words.

"Aw shit."

Carolina quickly analyzed the situation. Advantages: guns. Disadvantages: using advantages will draw more enemies, outnumbered, unknown area, no reinforcements, no vehicles. After weighing the options, she quickly came to the same plan of action that everybody else had come to.

"Run! Follow me, we're going to the city! Don't fall behind!"

The Reds and Blues, hyped up on adrenaline and terror sprinted after the teal freelancer, weapons blaring as they carved their way out of the forest.

_-=/On the Outskirts of Vale\=-_

Two guardsmen patrolled on the outskirts of the city. Coming to a stop at the place they always stopped at, they began to talk to pass the time.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder why-"

Snarls and gunshots mixed in with shouts of terror reached their ears. Their training taking over, one man called in support while the other trained his rifle on the trees. Suddenly, ten armored figures burst from the fringes of the forest.

"Hold it right there!" one of the guards ordered.

"Oh, we'd love to except for the fact that we're being chased by a f*ck ton of monsters!" a figure in orange armor yelled.

As if on cue, the f*ck ton of monsters leapt from the bushes. The armored men began to shoot, their aim surprisingly good. Four more Atlas soldiers arrived, and with more numbers and guns, the Grimm were quickly decimated. The soldiers turned around to ask the armored people who they were, only to find out that they were gone.

"Where are they?" one asked.

"I don't know. Why do we care?" the other asked.

"Um, because it's our job?" the first guy replied.

"Who cares. Probably some aspiring huntsmen who got lost in the forest. You saw how short they were."

"Alright."

_-=/Inside the City of Vale\=-_

The Reds and Blues were wandering around the nearly empty streets.

"I wonder what those things were." asked Simmons.

"They looked like...evil versions of the animals we've seen on Earth. Right, those wolf things were like massive wolves, those bigger ones were like bears." said Wash.

"I agree. From outward appearances, the animals closely resemble the fauna that we are all used to." Dr. Grey contributed her agreement.

The ten armored figures walked the nearly empty streets. It was nearly 10 o'clock, and few people were moving around. Most were shady people who took one look at the armor and weapons the Reds and Blues packed, and went the other way.

"Stop! Please stop!"

Everyone froze. Carolina and Wash looked around, searching for the source of the sound.

"There!" Carolina pointed to an alley entrance twenty feet ahead of them. The two ex-freelancers unholstered their sidearms and sprinted to the alley. They saw four men in suits wielding strange red swords cornering a young woman, barely out of her teenage years. There were two other men dressed like their assumed compatriots, but were lying on the floor unconscious. From the way they were arranged, it appeared the young woman had knocked the two down. The two freelancers hesitated, unsure of what to do.

"You're gonna pay. People like you deserve to be in the trash."

At this, the two freelancers exchanged glances, and realized several things.

One, the woman had acted in self-defense.

Two, the men were armed and trying to hurt a civilian.

Three, they needed to do something about this.

Four thunderclaps echoed throughout the enclosed space of the alley.

Five seconds later, four bodies tumbled to the ground, each one with a hole in each right kneecap.

"Freeze!"

The command said by Washington froze both the men and the young woman. Carolina walked past the writhing bodies and walked closer to the girl. She shied away from her, as if afraid.

"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you. Are you alright?"

Both Wash and Carolina herself were surprised at the caring tone she used. The girl looked up at her in surprise and stepped closer. As more of her face was shown, shock spread across Wash and Carolina's face as they realized...she had rabbit ears on her head. Honest to goodness rabbit ears.

"Do you have a way to call the police?" asked Carolina.

Hesitantly, the girl nodded. She pulled out a small screen, tapped a button, and it expanded. She quickly tapped a few numbers into it, conversed with who appeared to be the police operator, notified them of their location, and then hung up.

"Are you okay?" Wash asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"N-No." the girl replied in a shaky voice. It had a little bit of an accent that resembled that of people from Earth's country of England. "N-Not to sound rude, but who are you?"

"I'm Carolina, and that's Wash. There are several more of us, and we don't know where we are. Could you help us?" asked Carolina.

"S-sure. You did save me from those thugs." the girl said.

"No problem, it's what we do. It's what anyone should do." Wash said.

For some reason, the girl looked surprised, as if wondering why complete strangers would help her.

"You can come to my house. It'll be better there." the girl said.

"Um, excuse me?" asked Carolina.

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina."

"That's a beautiful name."

"T-Thank you."

The three headed out of the alley. The rest of the Reds and Blues walked forward to meet them.

"Hey Carolina, what happened?" asked Tucker.

"Several thugs were trying to mug this young lady here."

All eyes went to Velvet.

"Whoa, she has rabbit ears!" Tucker exclaimed.

Velvet seemed to shy away from him, edging closer to Carolina and Wash.

"What's your name miss?" asked Sarge.

"Velvet Scarlatina."

"That's a cool name."

"T-Thanks."

"This girl has bunny ears. That's so awesome." said Caboose.

"W-Wait, you think my ears are cool?" Velvet stuttered.

"Yeah" That was Caboose.

"Fascinating!" That was Dr. Grey.

"I think it looks good on you. Really matches your outfit." That was Donut.

Velvet was stunned. Minutes ago, she was being mugged, and could have been beaten or killed. Now she was talking with a group of heavily armored strangers, and they thought her ears were cool. Then the teal armored one, Carolina, spoke up.

"Change of plans people. Mrs. Scarlatina has offered us a place to stay the night, if that's okay with her."

Velvet immediately responded, "That's fine. You guys did help me."

"Alright, it's settled. Let's move people."

She noticed that the two she knew as Wash and Carolina walked next to her, while the rest walked behind, bantering and exchanging jokes.

"Excuse me, but are those ears natural?" A female in white and purple armor caught up to them.

Velvet looked uncertainly to Carolina, who caught her unspoken question.

"She's Dr. Grey. Our group's medic. Don't worry, she's a good person."

Velvet turned back to the armored person now identified as Dr. Grey.

"My ears are natural."

"Fascinating! Tell me, are there others like you?"

"Yes."

"And do they only have rabbit ears?"

"No. Some have other animal ears or other traits. I know some people who have tusks and others who have claws."

"Ooh. This is what I always wanted! Discovering previously unknown phenomenon!"

What? It was like these people didn't know what Faunus were! Just who were they?

She was snapped out of her thoughts as they turned onto a familiar street. Once they entered the house, her mother came in.

"Velvet, it's so late! You should-" she abruptly stopped after seeing the armored men and women escorting her daughter. "Um… who are your friends?"

"I was being mugged by several thugs, and they helped me."

"They did?"

"Yes."

"Well then, you did good to invite them over." Turning to the assembled Reds and Blues, she spoke, "Thank you for helping my daughter. It means a lot to me, and to her. Would you like something to eat?"

A female in teal armor quickly replied, "No, we're fine. We wouldn't want to impose."

However, a man in orange armor said, "Yes."

The female, apparently the leader of the group, and another male in grey and yellow armor looked at him and sighed. Then the teal armored female looked back to her and said, "He'll have something to eat. Mind you, he eats a lot."

"No problem." she left to quickly prepare something for the strangers to eat.

Meanwhile, back with the Reds and Blues, Velvet was feeling slightly unnerved at the sight of so many visors.

"Um, would you like to take your armor off?"

Carolina responded, "We would, but it takes a long time."

"Can you take your helmets off?"

"Sure. Wash, helmets off, if the Reds and Blues want to."

Velvet realized that the group seemed to be divided into groups. There were four wearing some variant of red, two in purple, and the rest in blue or grey. The hiss of a helmet seal being broken snapped her attention back to Carolina, who was in the middle of pulling her helmet off. The helmet revealed a rather attractive face, with emerald green eyes and long red hair swept into a ponytail. Bangs shadowed one of her eyes, but the eyes appeared to be full of conflict, sadness, and a myriad of other emotions. Surprisingly, she appeared to be younger than Velvet.

"Uh, Lina?" that was Wash.

"Yeah Wash?"

"Could you step outside with me for a moment?"

"Sure?"

The two stepped out the door. Velvet realized that the rest of the Reds and Blues appeared to be frozen.

_-=/Outside\=-_

"Wash, what's wrong."

Wash removed his helmet, revealing his features.

"Wash, what's-" she faltered. He looked so… so young.

"Lina, you look like you're in high school."

He passed his helmet over to her, and she looked into it's reflective surface. There was no doubt. She was a teenager.

"What! How?"

"The device must have made us younger."

"Do you think the rest of the Reds and Blues are the same?"

"Yes."

"What do we do?"

"We can't tell Velvet who we are and where we're from. Let's just say we're not from here, and say our ship crashed in the forest, damaged beyond repair. At least that's a half truth."

Carolina snorted.

"Let's go back in, I'll talk to the Reds and Blues over a closed channel, tell them to leave most of the talking to me and you. Let's find out what Santa meant by a second chance."

 **Hey everyone, I've created a poll on whether or not an OC character will be added. If he is added, it's going to be a few chapters farther, so there's a bit of time (maybe a few weeks) before his entrance is scheduled. Vote on the poll to determine if he's in or not. He'll be a former freelancer turned Spartan, and have a history with Remnant.**


	4. Chapter 4

Velvet watched as the two re-entered.

"Sorry about that. We usually don't take our helmets off. Just kinda took me by surprise."

Velvet nodded at this reasonable explanation.

"I'm kind of surprised as well. You look very young."

Carolina snorted.

"Says you."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you're obviously young, I'd guess no more than twenty, but it's pretty clear that you can fight."

The Reds and Blues looked up in surprise. They had already taken their helmets off, and their shock was evident.

"Really?" asked Tucker. "I mean, not to sound rude, but you don't really seem like a soldier."

"Yeah, you're too nice!" said Caboose.

"Oh, she can fight. Two unconscious thugs in an alleyway testify to that."

"Well, to be honest, I'm not a soldier." Velvet clarified. "I'm a huntress."

"A huntress?" asked Wash. "What do you hunt?"

"Grimm."

Dr Grey questioned, "Are the Grimm the evil animals? The ones with glowing red eyes?"

"You mean the spiky doggies. They aren't nice."

The unanimous chorus of "Shut up Caboose" somewhat shocked Velvet, as most of her experience with the group had shown them to be nice people. After seeing the nonchalance on the faces of the Reds and Blues, and Caboose's lack of comprehension, she guessed that this "Caboose" must not be the smartest person. Which further intensified her curiosity about who they were.

"Yes. The, um, 'spiky doggies' are the Grimm"

"That's actually a nice name." said Wash. "Makes sense, fits them perfectly."

"So what exactly is a huntress?" asked Carolina. Maybe this was the second chance Santa had talked about. Maybe to repent and atone for their sins, they had to help others. God, that sounded horribly cliche.

"A huntress is a protector. We protect the common people and fight the Grimm."

"So a soldier."

"No. There's a difference. Soldiers follow the commands of the kingdom, and while hunters and huntresses sometimes work with them, they are separate. The hunters and huntresses fight for the people, not the country." Velvet's mother, who had come in after Carolina and Wash had re-entered the building.

The uncomfortable look on Carolina and Washington's face could be seen be everyone, and a few of the Reds and Blues winced. The Scarlatinas noticed, and were about to ask why Carolina and Wash looked uncomfortable, until Grif came to the rescue.

"Um, excuse me?"

"Yes, um, Grif, was it?" replied Mrs. Scarlatina, answering Grif's question with another question.

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry, and I'd like food."

"Oh, sorry about that." Mrs. Scarlatina handed the plate of food, which contained a few dozen potato chips, some beef jerky, and a handful of cookies, over to Grif. Both Scarlatinas looked askance at the prodigious rate at which Grif was tearing through the food. The precision and effectiveness of the way he ate the jerky with minimal effort showed that, if eating could be a job, Grif was a professional. Within a minute, all the food was gone.

Turning back to the ex-freelancers, Velvet said, "Hunters and huntresses are different from soldiers, but which are you?"

Hesitation flooded the air, smothering all levity from the room. Looks were exchanged, secrets and thoughts jumping from person to person.

Mrs. Scarlatina realized it was a touchy subject, and was about to ask another question, until Carolina spoke up.

"We-we don't know."

Another pregnant pause, until Mrs. Scarlatina voiced her question.

"Where are you from?"

All eyes went to Carolina and Wash.

"We're-we're not from around here." said Carolina.

"What she's trying to say, is that we don't come from any kingdom." clarified Wash.

Velvet and her mother looked very surprised.

"Outside the cities? There's nothing out there."

Carolina and Wash exchanged a look, and asked, "Do any countries have satellites in orbit?"

"No. It was theorized, but no one could solve the problem of dust losing its power after leaving the atmosphere. Why? Does yours?"

To say that Velvet was a little scared and nervous was an understatement. Did these people have space capabilities? Their armor looked very high tech, and it wouldn't be too surprising.

"No. Our country's scientists said that no communications could ever reach yours, we were just so far apart that only satellites could bridge the gap."

Velvet was put at ease at this, but her mother became suspicious.

"How did your country know about ours? How did you get here?"

Wash said, "One-of-a-kind exploration airship. Fitted with the best of everything. Flew in one direction, told to report back when it found traces of other civilization."

Carolina added, "As to how we got here, we're from that vessel. We were eager to explore as well as provide security for the science team. The team got really excited once we sighted, what's this country?"

"Vale."

"Okay, our team got extremely excited at the sight of Vale, too excited I guess."

"What happened?"

"Something. Engines cut out, and we crashed. There were no other survivors."

Velvet and her mother were shocked. These teens were the lone survivors of a shipwreck!

"Where did your ship crash?"

"Somewhere in the forest. We wandered around, and found ourselves in an abandoned city. It was almost dark, and Simmons over there saw a tower with a green light in it. After being attacked by some Grimm, we made our over here. The rest is history."

Now it was clear that they had either seriously good training or impossible luck. Even full-fledged huntsmen were reluctant to travel the forests at night, and Mountain Glen was a dead-zone.

"Our ship was severely damaged to the point of never being able to fly again. So, we're stuck here." Carolina finished.

Velvet and her mother were thrown for a loop again. Velvet couldn't imagine being stranded from her home forever, and Velvet's mother was shocked at the nonchalance at ease at which Carolina spoke.

She voiced her opinions, saying, "You seem to be taking this remarkably well."

She did not expect the teal armored male, Tucker was his name, to answer.

"It's not like this hasn't happened before. Trust me, if crashing and burning was a job, we'd be professionals."

That sentence got a round of grim chuckles and laughs. After it died down, Wash asked, "So, these hunters and huntresses. They protect the people?"

"Yeah."

"But they're given free reign and the ability to do what they want?"

"Yes."

Once again, their was a grimace from the group.

"What's to stop them from going rogue?" asked Carolina.

Velvet wondered where this question came from.

"Nothing."

"So these people are taught deadly combat skills, and nothing or no one stops them from turning on their charges?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

Not a good question to ask apparently. Wash and Carolina looked extremely uncomfortable, while the Reds and Blues looked at the floor, or anywhere other than the two.

"So, how do people become hunters or huntresses?" Carolina suddenly spoke. Both Scarlatinas knew that she was avoiding the question and trying to move on, but they were not the kind of people to pry into other people's lives. So they ignored it and responded.

"First, there are combat schools that people need to go to, then there are colleges for huntsman training. Like the school I'm attending."

Wash asked, "Do you have to attend the combat schools? Could someone enter huntsman academy if they had enough skill?"

"Yeah. I know there have been exceptions to the rules. Why, do you guys want to become huntsmen?"

"Yes."

"I could recommend you to Headmaster Ozpin. If you want to attend Beacon, of course."

"We just want to protect people. Any school, if it lets us achieve our goal, we'll go to it."

"Alright, tomorrow I'll talk to the headmaster. I don't think you guys will have any trouble getting in."

"Thank you Velvet." Carolina turned to the Reds and Blues. "Get rest. Keep your armor on, Wash and I will keep watch."

Mrs. Scarlatina jumped in, "Oh, our house is quite safe."

"I'm ninety-nine percent sure that nothing will happen. I just always expect that one percent to happen tonight." Carolina clarified, as she meant no insult.

"It's just the way we are." said Wash, "We mean no disrespect this way. Besides, it's not like Carolina or I can sleep anyway."

Dr. Grey was furious. "You two will sleep at least three hours. If you don't, I will sedate you and make you sleep!"

The freelancers' meek replies of "Yes ma'am" brought a chorus of chuckles from the group that immediately died down after Dr. Grey trained her best "I'm an insane genius who likes to cut people open" look on them.

Velvet crawled under her bed covers, reflecting upon the way the day had gone. She wasn't sure what to make of the Reds and Blues, especially their leaders. They seemed smart and capable, and looked like they were good people, but they were hiding something. In the end, she just decided it wasn't her business and tried to go to sleep.

Meanwhile, the Reds and Blues were sleeping. They had gotten used to sleeping in their armor, and were currently lying on the living room floor of the Scarlatinas. Carolina looked over the sleeping forms of her family, and saw each of them at peace. Tucker was mumbling about women, Caboose was talking to Freckles in his sleep, Sarge was reaching for his shotgun and Simmons was reaching for Grif's throat. Donut was curled up and Doc was sleeping normally. Dr. Grey was asleep, but had an alarm set to wake her up to relieve Carolina and Wash of their guard duty. Seeing them all asleep and peaceful made her happy, and she leaned her head on Wash's shoulder. At first, Wash was surprised, but then realized what the gesture was. It was not Carolina attempting to start a romantic relationship with him, rather it was a friend seeking comfort from another friend. So he leaned back, and they stayed that way for quite some time.

 **No, I'm not shipping Wash and Carolina. At least, not yet. I'm still not sure if I should have Carolina get into another relationship, as I kind of want her to be hung up on York.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, after Carolina and Wash's mandatory three hours of sleep, the Reds and Blues began wandering around town. Velvet had already left for Beacon, so the crew chose to sightsee. As they wandered around, they realized that the buildings, the city itself all just looked like Earth before colonization began in earnest. It was as if they had be thrown into the past.

Nothing caught their interest, until Caboose spoke up.

"Piso mojado."

Everyone stopped to stare at Caboose. Did he really just speak spanish?

"What?" asked Carolina.

"Slippery step. The floor is wet."

"Bow chicka-"

"Shut up. What are you talking about?"

"Straight ahead. Yellow tape means slippery floor."

The crew looked ahead, and they noticed a store, with the name Dust Till Dawn inscribed above the awning. A massive hole was covering one window, and yellow police tape created a giant "X" over the opening. Police were looking around in the store, taking photos, and studying three white outlines of human bodies on the ground.

Carolina walked up to the police officers and asked, "Sir, what happened here?"

The officer looked at her and the rest of the Reds and Blues, and decided to talk to them.

"Dust robbery. Roman Torchwick and some of his guys tried robbing this store. A huntress in training stopped him."

"Oh, and the bodies?"

"Huntress incapacitated all of Torchwicks' goons, about three or four of them. Then she ran off to try and nab Roman himself. Since he's not in custody, I guess he escaped."

With that the officer turned away, and went back in the shop. The Reds and Blues took that as their cue to leave. As they walked away, Carolina mused over what they'd learned.

"So a huntress in training is apparently able to deal with three thugs, and then pursue a wanted criminal on her own. It sounds like they're a capable lot."

Grif butted in on her private thoughts. "Yeah, but are we? I mean you and Wash are, and maybe Tucker, but the rest of us? I don't think we'd last a second in that place."

Wash looked sideways at him. "After taking down a defunct military project, fighting hundreds of robots, time-traveling british guys, stopping a civil war, ending said civil war, you worry about COLLEGE!"

"Shh. Mr. Washingtub. You are too loud."

Wash sighed. Grif replied, "Actually a lot of that was Carolina and you. I didn't even go to college. In fact, I think only Simmons, Dr. Grey, Carolina, you, and maybe Doc actually went to college."

"And after doing all of that, you don't think you can go through...college."

"No."

They continued walking, bantering and exchanging jokes and jabs. Once again, Carolina zoned out to think. They needed to ask Velvet what dust was. It was clearly and important thing, if a known criminal was going to rob it. They made their way back to Velvet's house, where they were greeted by Velvet's mother.

"Oh, hello!"

"Good morning ma'am." Wash greeted her for the Reds and Blues.

"Velvet called. She said Headmaster Ozpin was willing to enroll you in his school if you pass the interview."

"Interview?" The Reds and Blues all had bad memories of interviews. Especially the interviews that assigned you to units. Tucker remembered his interview with Captain Flowers, the beginning of his journey.

"She said that Ozpin was expecting you to meet him at Beacon's landing pad at 3:30 pm. You know, you are lucky. The semester begins tomorrow."

"Landing pad?"

"Oh, my bad. Beacon Academy is located on top of a cliff. The only way to get up is with an airship."

That's when they realized. The tower that they had seen that led them to the city of Vale must have been beacon. It was an appropriate name for the school.

The bullhead landed on its designated area. The Reds and Blues were extremely critical of the craft. It was ridiculous to have the two engines on the ends of the wings. It made it structurally weak, and was a far cry compared to the Pelicans they were used to. As they stepped out of the craft, glaring sunlight was immediately negated by their helmets, so they instantly saw their welcoming party. A man in a black suit with a green scarf stood in front. He had messy grey hair and eyes that betrayed no emotion. He reminded the freelancers of the Counselor, and they both vowed to watch themselves around him. A middle aged woman was standing behind him. Tucker was about to comment on her outfit and the riding crop in her hand, but something made him stop.

The man in the black suit strode forward calmly and introduced himself. "Hello. I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon. My assistant is Glynda Goodwitch."

Carolina stepped forward, taking command of the Reds and Blues. "I am Carolina, and these are my friends."

Ozpin nodded. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion in my office." Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and strolled toward the school. Carolina shot a look at Wash who shrugged, and walked after him. Something about this man unnerved him. They all followed suit and strode through the school.

Ms. Goodwitch had seen a lot of things in her lifetime, but these teens unnerved her. Their faces were covered, and the way they walked through the school indicated that they had seen a lot. They didn't gawk or stare at certain parts of the school that had astounded others, didn't pause. The fact that their faces were covered by mirror-like visors was even more strange, giving them an aura of lethality that few huntsmen in training had. And their leaders, the teal female and grey male seemed like leaders. Their movements were crisp and precise, with none of the nonchalance the others carried. The others appeared to be talking to each other through their helmets, evidenced by tiny bobs and head movements. Their leaders however, were silent. They walked with a confidence, not arrogant like many other huntsmen in training, but a confidence that said, "I know what I'm capable of, and I can take care of myself." That, their anonymity, and silent professionalism was enough to set alarm bells off in her head. It was a brief walk to the elevators, and Ozpin hit the up button. The elevator rocketed up to his office, and the armored figures stepped out. Ozpin took his seat, while she took her position to his right. An awkward moment of silence passed, before Ozpin spoke.

"So. Who are you?"

The teal armored girl stepped up and introduced herself. "I'm Carolina."

The grey man was next. "I'm Washington, but most people call me Wash. I'm the second in command of this group. Carolina's our leader."

A female in white armor and purple accents jumped up. "Hello! I'm Dr. Grey, I'm the medical specialist!"

That got Glynda's attention. Apparently Ozpin's as well as he asked, "Doctor? Excuse me for asking, but you seem to be too young to be a doctor."

"Oh, that's fine! I am a doctor with a medical degree! I'm used to it, my parents used to say that all the time, but they weren't complaining when I fixed them up! Ha!"

Seeing the lack of comprehension on the adults' faces, Carolina clarified. "Dr. Grey is extremely smart. She is a certified genius, and is the smartest out of all of us. To put it simply, she is an experienced field medic."

To his credit, Ozpin did not look the least perturbed. "I see. I take it she has had experience?"

He did not expect the rest of the group to back away, and Dr. Grey to answer. "Oh yes! I once treated three men whose internal organs had been displaced by torture. It was fun!"

Once again, Glynda was thrown for a loop. A teenager had been asked to perform as a field medic. She was not sure her countenance hadn't betrayed her, and she marveled again at Ozpin's control.

The Reds and Blues were surprised to see Ozpin chuckle slightly and compliment Dr. Grey. "Being a medical officer is a noble profession. Saving the lives of others is what we stand for after all."

There was a gasp from a man in blue armor. This man had a unique helmet that did not look as advanced as the others. "You sound like Washingtub!"

Even Ozpin was taken aback by this. Glynda's mouth dropped open at this odd proclamation.

"Excuse me, but what does your companion mean?"

"We should continue introductions," said a man in teal armor. "I'm Tucker, and that's Caboose. He's...he's dumb."

"Mentally deficient!" chimed Dr. Grey.

"But why did he compare my voice to that of a bathing vessel?"

Glynda wondered that as well.

"Oh, he can't say Washington, so he just says 'Wash'. Or sometimes 'Washingtub'. We just ignore him."

Carolina added, "Actually, he's right. Headmaster Ozpin sounds like Wash."

Wash protested, "I don't speak like that!"

Now that Glynda was listening for it, she realized this Washington sounded a lot like the headmaster.

"That one time. We were in a game of truth or dare. You had to recite some Shakespeare."

The Reds and Blues were flabbergasted. They, for the life of them, could not imagine Carolina playing such a game. Maybe Wash, but Carolina? No.

"W-w-wait. You." Tucker pointed at Carolina. "Played truth or dare. A, y'know, 'fun' game? You. Carolina. Played-"

"Yes. Shut up. We're getting sidetracked."

"I agree," said Ozpin, "as interesting as this conversation is, I'm sure we all have things to do and places to be."

"So we've introduced all of blue team." It was then that Goodwitch realized that the groups appeared to be divided into colors. Four were some variant of red, three were blue but acknowledged the gray as one of them, while two others where purple.

"We actually have two medics, one is Doc over there, the other guy in the purple."

The man named Doc stepped forward shyly.

"Hi. I'm Dufresne. Nobody calls me that, everyone just calls me Doc."

Suddenly, his voice changed, becoming more menacing.

"That's because no one respects you, you incompetent feeble minded fool!"

Turning to Ozpin and Goodwitch, he said, "I am the harbinger of your demise, mwahahahaha! I will destroy you all! Prepare to taste oblivion!"

Dr. Grey merely removed a strange device from her hip, which began to glow a crackling green. The psychopath stared at it for a second, before surrendering.

"You win this time witch-doctor."

Doc's voice went back to normal as he spoke, "And that was O'Malley. I'm kinda schizophrenic."

Ozpin said, "You are truly some of the most interesting people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Continue."

A man in bright red armor stepped up, snapped a salute, and spoke in one of the gruffest voices Glynda had heard.

"I'm leader of the Red team. Name's Sarge."

"Pardon, is that your rank?"

"Nope. Pappy always told me to dress for the job, I just took it one step further."

"Noted."

A man in pink armor was next. He spoke with one of the most ridiculous voices Glynda had ever heard. "Hi, I'm Franklin Donut! Most people just call me Donut. Love the outfits, it really suits you."

The man now known as Tucker snorted. "Says the guy in the pink armor."

"It's lightish red!"

"Whatever."

Ozpin once again corralled the conversation back to the topic at hand. A bulky man in orange armor was next.

"I'm Grif. Don't bother me."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Carolina.

Carolina cleared things by saying, "That's Grif. The laziest person we know. He's our driver, and a good one. That's why he's still here."

Ozpin looked back to Grif only to see Sarge threatening the man with a shotgun.

"What are you doing!? Talking back to people and seniors? You should respect the elderly! Just wait till I'm done with my shotgun court martial!"

Surprisingly, Grif looked unfazed with a man waving a large firearm inches from his face.

"Sarge, enough. You can kill Grif later. Simmons, you're up." Wash took over for Ozpin. Everyone looked at him, then at Ozpin, then back to him.

A man in maroon armor walked forward. He attempted to say, "I'm Simmons. I'm the technician for Red team", but was so nervous around Glynda that it came out as incomprehensible gibberish.

"Excuse me, but what did he say?" asked Ozpin.

Grif answered. "I speak retard. He said, 'I'm Simmons. I'm the technician for Red team.' Either that, or he said he likes to eat newborn infants. I hope its the first option."

"Why would he be nervous?" Ozpin was curious as to why this man was so shaken.

Carolina clarified. "He's nervous around girls. It took forever to stop him from running away from us." At 'us', Carolina motioned to herself and Dr. Grey.

"I see. Well, I'm not going to hurt him." Glynda spoke up for the first time. Both Ozpin and Glynda were completely unprepared for what happened next. Each person, except for Dr. Grey, reacted.

Carolina snarled, and got into a combat pose.

Wash also got into a combat pose, but a more defensive one and began to back away.

Simmons ran and hid behind a pillar.

Grif pulled a traffic cone from nowhere and held it in front of him.

Sarge pushed Grif in front of him and removed his shotgun from his back.

Doc yelped and cowered in fear.

Tucker pulled a handle from his leg, which ignited into two steaming blades of energy.

Caboose waved and said "Hello mean dead lady."

Ozpin, Dr. Grey, and Ms. Goodwitch were all confused.

"Was it something I said?" asked Ms. Goodwitch.

"Stand down everyone!" Carolina yelled. She herself slowly relaxed and eased back into her normal stance, although it was obvious she was still tense. Wash did the same. The Reds and Blues however, did not.

"Ms. Carolina, could you explain what is going on?" asked Ozpin.

Carolina looked at Wash, who nodded and said, "She sounds exactly like an old...acquaintance of ours."

"I take it your relationship with her was not very good."

"No. She was Carolina's rival, I was just nervous around her, and she beat up the Reds and Blues."

Grif yelped at this, dropped the cone, and covered his groin.

"She was nicknamed 'Ballbuster' for a reason. She absolutely thrashed them, and Grif was launched several dozen feet in the air, then landed on a pointed roadblock in a very sensitive area."

Grif groaned and backed away, while Sarge chuckled.

"However, she died quite some time ago, and I guess meeting someone who sounded like a person who beat the crap out of them several times would terrify them."

"Surely she couldn't have been that-" Ozpin was cut off by various testimonies proclaiming Tex guilty in every way.

"She punched me in the balls!"

"She took my shotgun!"

"She beat me up!"

"She used Caboose as target practice."

"She shot Church."

That last one sobered everyone up. It was an effect the two full-fledged hunters had seen before. It was a group of warriors remembering their fallen. Whoever this Church was must have been very close to them.

Glynda spoke up. "I can assure you that I am not her. I'm sorry for what happened to you all."

The Reds and Blues didn't appear convinced.

Carolina spoke up. "Guys, its not her. The Tex we know would never apologize."

"She's right." said Sarge.

Wash clarified. "Actually, after your, ahem, collapse, I heard her talking to North. She seemed genuinely sorry for knocking you out."

"It was probably for the better." Carolina nodded. Turning back to Ozpin, she asked, "So are we in?"

Ozpin contemplated for some time before responding. "You clearly have the marks of seasoned veterans. You all seem to have experience, but I'm not sure about your capabilities, as you have not appeared in any of the databases from any combat schools. I can allow you to enter my school's initiation, and if you pass, you will be allowed to enter. All new students go through this initiation."

Carolina nodded. It was reasonable. Looking at Wash, he also seemed to be fine with it. And the Reds and Blues had shown that they would stand by their friends no matter where they went.

"We accept."

"Good. Now, Miss Scarlatina was not very detailed in her explanation about your origins, could you shed a little light upon that?"

That, was bad.


	6. Chapter 6

Carolina tried to stall. "What exactly do you want to know?"

Ozpin turned to Goodwitch. "Glynda, could you give our guests and I a little privacy?"

Goodwitch knew that Ozpin was trying to make them open up. Maybe if someone they feared left, they would be more open. She nodded and made her way to the elevators, the Reds and Blues parting for her.

Once the elevator doors closed, Ozpin said, "I mean you have a story that fits your current predicament. Shipwrecked survivors stranded in an unknown country, its just that I have a very extensive network of cameras, and not one captured footage of an unknown ship of unknown design crashing down near the abandoned dead zone that is Mountain Glen."

Wash said, "It could be a malfunction."

Ozpin smirked, and replied, "That's exactly what I thought as well. And I noticed a brilliant white flash of light from Mountain Glen, then shortly afterwards, you were fleeing into the forest with a…. f*ckton of monsters on your tail."

Grif sighed.

Carolina growled. "What do you want?"

Ozpin said simply, "I want to know who you are. I can guarantee that nothing you say will leave this room. If you want, I can even keep your story a secret from Ms. Goodwitch."

"Then why would you want to know?"

"I merely want to determine your motivation. Why you want to be huntsman, and where you really are from. I'm a man of my word. If you want to enter my school, I want to know why you are here."

Carolina looked to Wash, and the mental conversation that happened went something like this.

C: Should we?

W: He won't believe us.

C: But should we?

W: Screw it.

T: I'll screw Carolina! Bow Chicka-

W: What the f*ck! Tucker, how did you!?

C: Alright.

T: What, awesome!

C: No! No! I meant, we tell him the truth!

T: Oh. Less awesome.

Cheeks burning red, Carolina looked back at Ozpin, took a deep breath, and plunged in. "We're a group of space marines from the United Nations Space Command. We helped end a civil war that was created by an evil corporation to kill off every single colonist, lost one of our best friends in the process, and then activated an unknown alien artifact that transported us here."

To his credit, Ozpin's face didn't change. They could literally see the calculation behind the man's eyes.

"Very well. I believe you."

That shocked the Reds and Blues.

"Y-you do?" asked Carolina.

"Yes. There was no hesitation in your story, your comrades didn't seem to react except for the part about losing a close friend, at which many of them slumped. The situation seems serious and you have shown that you are not one for senseless humor or dilly-dallying. Taking all of this into account, I have reason to believe you."

The man reminded the freelancers of Director Church, with his instant observation and analysis. They would have to be careful around him, but could tell that he was not like the Director in that he fought to protect his school and his people, not for his own selfish reasons. They could not explain it, but they had a feeling that this man would not turn on them.

"Now, from what Miss Scarlatina told me, you seemed to be rather touchy over certain subjects, would you care to explain? Oh, and could you remove your helmets?"

Carolina reached up, and twisted her helmet off. As the helmet cleared her face, Ozpin's eyes widened slightly.

"What?" asked Carolina.

"Your face. You look very similar to a local celebrity, but no matter. I suppose its no stranger than your comrade sounding similar to me."

The rest of the Reds and Blues removed their helmets, and there were no more surprises.

"Now, the story, if you would please."

Carolina sighed. "First of all, the artifact that sent us here changed all of our ages back to seventeen. I used to be thirty-four years old, now I'm half my age."

Ozpin seemed to absorb this information, and then nodded and motion for her to continue.

Carolina said, "We were all affiliated with a group called Project: Freelancer. It was a group created before our great war, and was meant to protect humanity, but sadly, it went astray."

"Excuse me Miss Carolina, but what is this Great War you speak of?"

"Humanity was at war with a group of aliens. Long story short, humanity was almost driven to extinction."

"I see."

Wash added, "Unfortunately, before the war began, there was a large conflict between the central government, the UEG, and a large group of terrorists named the Insurrectionists. Project Freelancer was created to deal with them."

Ozpin nodded, "We have our own civil war going on, well, at least secretly. A group named the White Fang has risen up, and has begun attacking and looting shops. They started out as a group of peaceful activists, but turned violent."

Wash said, "That's not too far removed from the Insurrectionists story. They originally wanted independence, but they were the central government's source of food, and them gaining independence would cripple the rest of the inner colonies."

Carolina took up the rest of the story, "A few of us were selected and asked to join Project: Freelancer. We thought we were doing the right thing."

Ozpin asked, "What of the others? They said they were also affiliated with Project Freelancer."

Tucker said, "Those two are agents. Like, people who are actually good at stuff. We were the worst soldiers-"

"Are the worst soldiers"

"Thank you Simmons, but yeah, the worst soldiers in existence. We became "Simulation Troopers" which meant we were put into a capture the flag environment and told to kill each other to get the flags."

Simmons spoke up next, "Freelancer was going to conduct field tests on us. Some agents would be sent in and we would essentially be used as target practice."

Ozpin's countenance didn't change, but inwardly, he was seething and disgusted by the actions Freelancer had done.

Carolina said, "Then a massive war between the United Nations Space Command, the military arm of our government, began with a group of aliens."

Wondering how the rest of the military acted, Ozpin asked how the war had started.

"The aliens fired first, declaring us an affront to their religion. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and they massacred everyone. It didn't matter if you were male or female, reports have shown several enemy soldiers eating live children. It wasn't so much of a war as a genocide."

"And where was Freelancer during the war?"

Carolina and Washington both looked ashamed and looked down.

"Our director told us that the Insurrectionists were the bigger threat. We were directed away from the front lines and used to conduct raids against the supposed Insurrectionists."

Ozpin asked, "I take it your director was the man who was responsible for your actions."

Wash knew that Ozpin was testing their integrity, and responded with, "He directed us and manipulated us to do our actions, but we know that the consequences of what we've done should fall to us. That's why we're trying to make things better."

"So how did your Director act?"

He could immediately sense a wave of hostility and anger rise. Interestingly enough, everyone looked to Carolina to explain.

She appeared extremely guilty, but her comrades had no anger directed to her. "The Director created something called the leaderboard. Our agents were given point values for successful missions, and our rank soon became the only thing that mattered. I'm...ashamed to say that I was the Number One agent for some time because I let that rank become the only thing that mattered. Soon divisions among our ranks rose up, and the entire project collapsed. Every other freelancer agent is dead. Including some very close friends."

Carolina teared up at this point, and Wash took over.

"The Director was using us for his own means. He was trying to recreate the love of his life as an AI, or artificial intelligence. He became obsessed, and used my friends and family to achieve his own goal. We were tools to him, disposable tools. In the end, his own agents were no more important to him than the simulation troopers. We were all pawns, pieces in his twisted game."

Wash's voice began to rise in intensity and anger. The other people in the group didn't contradict anything he said.

"He may have been working to bring his love back, but at the cost of all of us. He created an artificial intelligence modeled after himself. Then he tortured it."

"Excuse me, but 'modeled' after himself? I fail to follow."

"UNSC AI are made by digitizing human brains. They essentially become a clone of their maker. But what he did to this AI, what he did to me, to Carolina, to the Reds and Blues, is unforgivable. He fragmented the AI, presenting unsolvable problems to several of its core functions."

Wash looked over to Carolina, and Carolina nodded. Suddenly, a small figure in glowing green armor appeared in front of them. After Church's fragmentation, Tucker asked the Reds and Blues as well as the Freelancers if they required any of the fragments. He gave Carolina Delta, in honor of York, and gave Wash Theta, in honor of North. None of the Reds and Blues needed the AI, and the freelancers were reluctant to take the fragments.

"Hello. My name is Delta."

Carolina explained, "Delta is the logic function of the Alpha AI. To fragment the AI, he presented the AI with an unsolvable problem. The Alpha would become obsessed with the problem, and the only way to save itself from insanity would be to sever that function from itself."

Wash took over again. "That man got everyone I know killed. He implanted an AI that went insane inside my head. He implanted two AI inside Carolina and almost fried her brain. He was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to achieve his means."

Ozpin asked, "His own daughter? How so?"

"He made her the leader of the agents, made her into an obsessed soldier. He's the reason her entire team died, and she had to fight the person she loved. It's because of him, that she was thrown off a cliff and spent seven years trying to get revenge. The reason Carolina is the way she is today, is because of the Director. Because. Of. Her. Father."

Suddenly, in Ozpin's mind, it all made sense. Carolina was harboring feelings of guilt over her past actions, and felt that the blame and consequences her father should have received were now hers to bear. She felt that she had to bear all of it on her own, when she was as much of a victim as the others. Ozpin was horrified inwardly that a man would go so far to hurt his own daughter. This group of people had been through horrors that even full-fledged huntsmen would have had trouble with. His respect for them had grown, and now he only needed one more thing.

"Why are you here?"

All ten of the spacemen/women looked at him.

"We know we can't make our past actions go away. But maybe, we can make thing good enough."

That settled it. These people were determined to atone for their sins. They were good people, they just had a bloody past. He thought of Blake Belladonna, a faunus who was going to be attending the school who had left the White Fang for similar reasons.

"I have made my decision. You all seem like good people, and are genuinely sorry for what you have done. I will allow you to enter the initiation. However, I'm interested in what happened after Freelancer. What did I hear about a civil war?"

Tucker spoke up. "You know that story about a crashed ship? Yeah, we were in a ship after we brought Freelancer down, and somehow the ship crashed."

Maybe it was just Ozpin's imagination, but Simmons looked a little bit guilty.

"And we found ourselves in the middle of a civil war between two groups named the Feds and the New Republic of Chorus. Long story short, we were split up and ended up on different sides. We reunited, and found out that the whole war was the result of some company trying to kill off everyone to get the leftover alien tech on the planet."

Wash added his two cents to the pot. "Carolina and Epsilon, the memory fragment of the Alpha, the AI created by the Director, decided that they wanted to try to wash some of the blood of their hands, and found out that some leftover tech of Project Freelancer had been used by some mercenaries, and decided to try and stop them. They didn't want to involve the rest of us, and then found out that we were drawn in by the corporation, Charon Industries to hasten the civil war. We were supposed to be divided and put on each side, and hopefully our combat experience would result in a lot more deaths on both sides. Fortunately, Carolina and Epsilon managed to help us escape."

Carolina finished the story. "We managed to get a message out to both sides and prevent what would have been a bloody battle. The two sides united, and we managed to end the war. It resulted in the two mercenaries that Charon had hired attempting to activate an alien machine that would kill all sentient life on the planet. Together, we stopped them, broke the enemy's forces, and transmitted an SOS to the UNSC. Unfortunately, the chairman of Charon Industries brought his ship and attacked us first. The Reds and Blues boarded his ship while we were trapped on the ground, under assault by a large number of mechs. We would have died, were it not for the Reds and Blues. They shut down the mechs from the ship, but were attacked and cornered. Epsilon deconstructed himself, basically fragmenting himself again to help save the Reds and Blues."

"And Epsilon was the being you called Church, correct?"

"Yes."

"Very well. That answers all of my questions. You are free to go. Initiation begins tomorrow, and all prospective students spend the night in Beacon's ballroom. You are welcome to your Beacon, I just ask that an upperclassman accompanies you so you don't get lost."

"That's fine."

"Of course." Ozpin turned to his desk, activated the intercom, and said, "Would Velvet Scarlatina come to my office? Thank you."

The Reds and Blues turned to leave, heading down the elevator. It was a tight fit, but less crowded than the first time. As they piled out of the cramped elevator, they saw Velvet walking towards them.

"Hello. So, how did it go?" Velvet asked.

"Good. We're entering the Initiation tomorrow." Carolina said.

"That's great. You'll do well, I can tell."

"Thanks." said Tucker. For some odd reason, the rest of the Reds and Blues could tell that he was distracted. But what was he… oh. A girl in a beret, chocolate brown outfit, and sunglasses walked forward. This was bad.

"Oh hey Coco. I was just talking with my friends here. They're going through initiation tomorrow."

"That's cool. Though the armor is a bit tacky. Doesn't really look that good."

"Y'know who looks good? You." said Tucker, in what he believed was a suave and smooth voice.

"Excuse me?" Coco's eyebrows drew together. "Are you trying to hit on me?"

Wash stepped in between them. "Now, let's stop before things get too-"

"Well, I got a sword, and I know how to use it." said Tucker.

"That is it!" Coco exclaimed. She pushed Wash out of the way, and was about to punch Tucker, until Carolina caught her fist, pushed her back, and got in between them.

"That's enough. Both of you, stop this right now, before you do something you regret. Tucker, I don't want to piss off and entire school of elite fighters. You, I don't know who you are, but I will not have you hurting my teammates. And while I'm sure you're skilled, I don't think you can punch through titanium composite that's been made to stop bullets."

Coco glared at her. "You stay out of this. He insulted and try to hit on me."

"I'm not saying that he's going to get away with it. As his team leader, I will be the one dealing with him."

"Ooh. A catfight, bring outside!" said Tucker.

Carolina whirled around, and immediately unleashed a hurricane of violence that shocked everyone who wasn't a red or blue or freelancer.

Coco had thought that these freshmen were nothing but talk, with armor and hidden faces.

Velvet knew Tucker was some form of a pervert, and wasn't too surprised with what had happened up until now. She knew Carolina was fast, but what happened next seemed unreal.

The Reds and Blues knew what was going to happen, and weren't surprised in any form.

Carolina accessed her speed upgrade, temporarily boosting her reaction and movement so that it was on par with that of a Spartan. She brought her right knee up, thudding into Tucker's crotch, actually lifting him several inches into the air. Her hands shot to his throat, snatching him before smashing her helmeted head into his, releasing her grip on his neck simultaneously. Meanwhile, her foot had hooked around his right leg, and the combination of her last three actions resulted in him sprawled on the floor. The entire sequence of events occurred in less than two seconds.

Tucker groaned in pain after laying stunned for several seconds. "Ugh, forget Tex. I think you're scarier."

Grif laughed, "Ha! I'm not the only guy who's gotten punched in the nuts! Suck it Blue!"

"Don't do that again Tucker. Control yourself, or I WILL castrate you."

Carolina turned to Velvet.

"Sorry about that Velvet." However, after seeing the shocked looks on both of the Beacon students, she was confused.

"What?"


	7. Chapter 7

"What?"

Velvet and Coco just stared at the crumpled heap of armor that was the source of the pitiful groaning noises.

Coco was stunned. It had just happened so fast, that idiot was standing one moment, and after she blinked, was crumpled on the floor. Maybe these froshies weren't half bad.

Velvet thought back to the first time she had met Carolina. She should have known that Carolina was this fast, as those gunshots had come almost simultaneously. But that meant that Washington was just as capable, if not more.

Meanwhile, the Reds and Blues were just laughing at Tucker's pain, Grif especially. While Dr. Grey was a little more sympathetic, the others just basked in the glow that washed over them while watching someone else suffer.

"How much does it hurt?" asked Dr. Grey, crouching next to the tangled heap of armor.

"Uuhh. On a scale of one-to-popped, everything!"

"You know that doesn't make any sense, idiot." said Grif.

Wash managed to stop shaking, and reached down to Tucker. "Okay, enough laying around."

Tucker just groaned and curled up.

"Now this is just starting to get pathetic."

Tucker still didn't move.

"Get up."

Carolina took off her helmet, and with the scariest expression she could muster, crouched next to Tucker, and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Get. Up. Now."

Once the others saw the dark look on their leader's face, they all wisely shut up and backed away.

Impatient, Carolina grabbed her fallen comrade by the shoulders and began shaking him violently, while repeating her last sentence.

Velvet felt she had to intervene on the poor man's behalf.

"Um, Carolina? I don't think he's in any condition to move."

"He will if I force him to!"

After half an hour of constant shaking and death threats, Tucker was back on his feet and the group was touring Beacon Academy. Having been on spaceships and leapt of skyscrapers before, nobody was really impressed with much. Except for Tucker, that is. It is probably obvious what he was impressed by.

Velvet showed them the important parts of the school, such as the classrooms, the dorms, and the cafeteria.

"And you're saying, we don't have to pay for food! That all the food is paid for by the school! Awesome! I'm gonna eat so much!"

Velvet looked askance at the enthusiasm Grif displayed when she told him that the meals were essentially buffets. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. As they were walking, Carolina leaned over and whispered to her.

"Don't be surprised if Ozpin decides to change the free food policy."

The day passed quickly, and soon it was time to go to sleep.

"Well, you guys have fun. I'm going to my dorm room."

"Wait, don't we have dorm rooms?" asked Grif.

"Were you paying attention?" said Simmons.

"No. Does it matter?"

"It does! The headmaster told us where we were sleeping!"

Sarge yelled, "Aha! Ignoring the wisdom of the elderly! Now you face the wisdom of my shotgun!"

"Eh. As long as I sleep, I'm fine." said Grif.

"Sleep!? You can sleep with the fish!" said Sarge.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Enough!"

Everyone shut up after Carolina shouted.

"Tonight is the night before initiation. For tonight, and tonight only, we sleep in the ballroom."

"Is that where they keep all the balls? I need to get a ball for Freckles."

"Shut up Caboose."

Velvet looked at the arguing group of freshmen. She pulled Wash aside, and made sure that at least one of them knew how to get to the Ballroom before going to her dorm to sleep. It had been a long day.

"Guys, it's this way." Wash led the group to their rest.

"Is this like follow the leader? I really want to win."

"No Caboose, it's the quiet game." said Wash.

"Oh! I want to win."

Entering the ballroom, they saw a large multitude of students in their various states of sleepwear.

"Oh man! This is like heaven! So many-"

"Don't even think about it Tucker."

"Aw."

A lot of stares were directed towards them as the entered, and soon people began whispering.

"Who are they?"

"Students?"

"Naw, look at their armor."

"Yeah, it looks really high tech. Atlas soldiers?"

"Doubt it. Why would they be here?"

Ignoring the many stares and whispering, they quickly found an empty area near a window. The Reds and Blues immediately laid down, with Dr. Grey setting an alarm inside her helmet to relieve Carolina and Wash of their guard duty. The two ex-freelancers sat next to each, both leaning against the wall. Carolina pulled out a few sheets of paper that Velvet had given her. They were her notes for the year before, detailing the types of Grimm and their weak spots. Wash merely surveyed the room.

"Weirdos."

"Who sleeps in their armor?"

"Bet they rely on that junk. I doubt they can even fight."

Thanks to the helmet's built-in audio receptors, both agents heard everything. Carolina ignored it, merely promising to herself that she would show them up in class. Wash pulled out a throwing knife that was once the property of a now-deceased Felix and began spinning it in his fingers. After a few rotations, he began to sharpen the knife on his gauntlet, the quiet scraping noises drawing half of the room's attention.

He laughed coldly, a harsh grating sound that seemed to slash at everyone's nerves. Turning his head to look at the people who laughed at him, he taunted them.

"What's the matter? Lost your nerve?"

The people who had been laughing now looked afraid. Eyes darting between the faceless helmet and the knife, they quickly shook their heads and looked away. Carolina elbowed Wash.

"We're not here to make enemies. I don't care if they laugh."

"Wow, that was surprisingly mature from you."

"Besides, we can show them we can fight when we crush them in training."

"And that's the Carolina we all know and love."

" More like fear and obey without question."

They both chuckled at each other's friendly banter, then fell silent, each going to their own thoughts.

Meanwhile, a red-haired celebrity felt odd. Across the room, there was a group of heavily armored figures. Two of which were staying awake. As she watched, she heard a group of initiates muttering uncomplimentary comments and rudely insulting the ten suits of armor. She was about to ask why they were acting in such a manner and go talk with the armored people, until the grey-and-yellow one pulled out a knife and began brandishing it in a terrifying display of skill. Spinning the knife in one hand so fast that it seemed like a liquid blur of light. Scraping the blade across his gauntlet, the rasping noises chewing and fraying her nerves. Pyrrha Nikos wondered if the man had hear them. It would make sense for someone to react like that. The man confirmed her suspicions when he coldly taunted them, sending a clear message of "Leave us alone".But how did he hear the other students? Maybe it was the helmets. As she watched, she noticed the teal armored figure...wait...that one was a female. The two appeared to be talking to each other through a radio or something, as she couldn't hear anything from them, but saw their heads bobbing up and down. It would make sense for their armor to have radios built in, but where did they get that armor? Who were they? In the end, she just decided to go to sleep and think about it in the morning.

Carolina was almost finished reading Velvet's notes. For some odd reason, she felt on edge, as if someone was watching her. After a while, the feeling went away and she relaxed slightly.

Wash had noticed the girl. Strange, for a second, before she turned away, he almost thought he looked like Carolina. He figured it was probably time to go to sleep. There was no way someone with Carolina's face would wear something that showed so much skin.

Hours later, everyone but the two freelancers had fallen asleep. Carolina gazed out an open window, looking at the shattered moon. She'd removed her helmet, as had Wash. He followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the moon.

 _"Huh. The moon she's looking at, it perfectly reflects her. Strong. Shining when you least expect it. Constant. Whole once, but now broken. Beautiful. Wait what! What the hell am I thinking!?"_

 _"Hey Wash, it's me Tucker."_

 _"What-"_

 _"Bow Chicka Bow Wow."_

 _"Go to sleep."_

 _"Dude, I am asleep. I'm communicating through my dreams."_

 _"How are you even doing that?"_

 _"Call it a gift. Or maybe because I'm awesome."_

 _"It's definitely not either of them. I call it a problem."_

"Wash?"

"Huh!"

Wash fell over in surprise. Remembering his previous thoughts, he scrambled and backed away. Because of the lighting, Carolina didn't see the blush that stained her friend's face.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Perfectly fine. I'm fine."

"Wash. You're babbling. What's wrong?

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

Clearly not convinced, Carolina gave him a sideways look, and then resumed her staring contest with the moon. Wash did what he could to slow his jackhammering heart down and then leaned back against the wall. What was with him? During Freelancer, everyone knew Carolina was attractive, but everyone was just too afraid to hit on her, except York. But now they were both seventeen, barely of of their teenage years. F*cking puberty.

 **The part about Tucker complaining is real. A friend of mine shot himself with a nerf gun, and it took half-an-hour of coaxing to get him to stop complaining. What Tucker said is what he said, almost word-for-word.**


	8. Chapter 8

Wash finally shook himself awake. Actually, it was Tucker who shook him. Shaking the sleep from his eyes, he shakily made it to his feet. Swiping his hand across his face in an attempt to wipe away the drowsiness, he went through the tried and true methods each person has to wake themselves up. Staggering to his feet, he headed into the bathroom.

Exiting the ballroom, he headed towards the cafeteria. A lot of weird looks and whispering was directed towards him, but he ignored it. He opened the door, and looked around.

" _Hm. Not bad. Big, lots of room, but I haven't tasted the food yet."_

When he arrived, he saw that the others were already waiting at a table for him. Looking over the options and deciding that most of the food was just too unhealthy, he settled for several pieces of fruit. Sitting down at the table, he saw that Carolina had done the same. She nodded acknowledgement to him, then went back to disemboweling an apple with a combat knife. People sitting around them had already given them a large berth. Watching the teal-armored female skillfully carve a piece of fruit, those within knife range began to edge away.

Pyrrha Nikos, four-time champion of the Mistral Regional, was unhappy. She didn't let it show, but she was tired of the staring and murmuring. She hated being put on a pedestal, and had hoped that by coming to Beacon, she would be treated as an equal. Before she had even set foot in the school, she had already heard all she didn't want to hear.

" _Wow. It's the Mistral Champion."_

" _Really? Awesome. I want an autograph."_

" _Hmph. She's a little girl. She doesn't look so tough. I bet I could beat her."_

She loathed the sycophantic praise that everyone threw at her. She didn't like the arrogant boasting that people often said. No one treated her like Pyrrha Nikos, everyone treated her like the champion or the person to beat. It was as if everyone just treated her like an object.

Inwardly groaning, she took her food and sat down at an empty table. No one even asked if they could sit near her except for a skinny kid with a mohawk who tried a few pick-up lines on her.

Tucker snorted. He heard some idiot say the worst possible pick-up line to some red-haired chick. Laughing at the miserable excuse for a pick-up line, he mentally replayed it.

" _Hey, I lost my teddy bear. Can I sleep with you instead?"_

"What's so funny?"

Tucker looked over at Wash. He gestured toward the girl and explained the situation.

"Some mohawk kid tried to pick-up that girl over there. He said the worst thing."

"What was it?"

"He said, and I quote, ' _Hey, I lost my teddy bear. Can I sleep with you instead?'_ to try and hook up with her."

Wash simply stared at Tucker for a moment with his mouth hanging open before saying, "That was the worst pick-up line. Ever. Of all time."

"I know right?"

The two chuckled and laughed.

"So, what happened to the guy?"

"Shot down like a one-winged duck."

"With an opening that bad, not unexpected."

"Hey, Wash, I dare you to say that to Carolina."

Carolina chose that moment to join the conversation.

"Say what to me?"

The two males jumped and quickly did what they could to clear themselves of any possible guilt.

"N-nothing."

Under her helmet, Carolina's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"What was it?"

Tucker recounted the misadventure of the now-dubbed mohawk kid. Carolina snorted and began laughing.

"Wow. That was almost as bad as some of York's pick-"

She paused mid-sentence and fell silent. Wash inwardly winced. It was well-known to the Reds and Blues that York was still a touchy subject around Carolina. It seemed that being turned into teenagers had reduced their ability to cope with their past.

In an extremely weak attempt to divert Carolina's attention, Tucker said, "I'm gonna go hit on her instead, show that fool how it's done."

Somehow, it worked.

"Good luck with that Tucker. Hope she castrates you."

With that the teal-armored man (now boy) walked over to the red-haired girl a few tables away. Wash sighed and followed him, hoping to keep damage to a minimum.

Pyrrha Nikos continued to eat her breakfast until one of the suits of armor walked over. This one had teal armor, but wasn't the female she saw the night before. The man walked over and leaned down.

"Hey girl. On a scale of one-to-ten, you're a nine. And I'm the one you need."

She inwardly groaned at another attempt from some random person who simply went after her for her looks.

Wash was stunned.

" _After talking all that smack about the other kid's pick-up line, he goes and says something like that!?"_

Pyrrha turned toward him, plastering a fake smile on her face and prepared to politely refuse. She was not, however, prepared for his reaction.

Tucker smiled, until the girl looked at him. He yelped and back away shouting "Please don't kill me! I don't have much to live for but the universe doesn't like wasting!"

Wash gasped in his helmet. The girl was practically a clone of Carolina. The face, the hair, the eyes, they were exactly the same. Wait, the eyes were different. They were the same green, but though they had a hint of sadness and loneliness in them, it was nothing compared to the pain and desperation Wash had seen in Carolina's.

Pyrrha was confused at the man's terrified reaction. It looked like he had seen a demon. She was even more confused when he began pleading with someone named Carolina. Who was this Carolina who had terrified him so much? Another man in the same type of armor, the one who had scared the entire ballroom quiet the night before walked forward.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?"

Pyrrha nodded and the man took his seat next to her. After making minute adjustments to make himself more comfortable, he turned and looked at the other man.

"Tucker, get a grip. She's not Carolina. She just looks and sounds exactly like her."

Pyrrha gasped.

"Professor Ozpin, I had no idea-"

"Wait what? I'm not the headmaster."

"But you sound just like-"

A man in pink armor walked up next to them and joined in.

"Hey Carolina! Love the outfit! When did you change?"

"Um. My name is Pyrrha Nikos. I was just speaking with the headmaster-"

"Hey! I'm not the headmaster."

Then the teal-armored female walked over.

"What's all the commotion about?"

Everyone in a ten-foot radius fell silent, mentally comparing the voice of Agent South Carolina of Project: Freelancer to the voice of Pyrrha Nikos of Mistral.

"U-um. Who are you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Wait. Say something." the teal-armored female commanded.

"Hello? My name is Pyrrha Nikos."

The grey-and-yellow man spoke up. "Unbelievable. They're-"

The woman finished his sentence, "-identical."

She reached up and twisted her helmet off. Pyrrha gasped again. Surely, this must be a dream. Green eyes shadowed by red hair looked into green eyes shadowed by red hair.

Tucker screamed, "Oh my god! There are two of them! Two demons!"

Wash and Donut just watched in stunned disbelief. Pyrrha and Carolina were in similar states of shock. For a long moment, everyone just stared at one another.

 **Sorry about the short chapters. Chapters will probably be put up more sporadically and be shorter because school starts soon. So once again, sorry about the short chapters.**


	9. Chapter 9

**6/12/2018**

 **CoI here with a heartfelt apology. I more or less pushed this fic to the side after starting it, as I had little to no direction with the story. After attending a summer college course in writing, I found myself less and less motivated to write something as fun and comedic as a crossover between Red Vs. Blue. For those of you who saw my other fic, Magical Antithesis, my writing has begun to explore darker and more controversial themes of modern society. Right now, I'm on a service trip in a poor rural area, and I wanted to write something happier and more enjoyable to pick myself up. I finished the second chapter of Magical Antithesis and checked the comments of We Could've Been, and saw a lot of people asking for this to come back. So, it's back. There may be future pauses in updates due to the fact that I didn't plan out the plot and will have my work cut out for me if I want to marry this fic's comedy and high spirits with the emotional trainwreck that was Volume 3 and beyond. So yeah, I'm working on the next chapter right now.**

 **I encourage you all to check out my other fic, Magical Antithesis, it's a Harry Potter X Fairy Tail crossover, except it carries a very different tone than either of the source materials.**

 **Also, each chapter for MA is about 6,000 words while each chapter of WCB is between 1,000 to 2,000. Do you guys want me to start writing longer chapters? Thank you all for your patience!**

* * *

 **I decided to edit this chapter a little.**

The two redheads stared at each other in mute silence. It grew and grew, suffocating everyone enclosed in the invisible bubble that was the twenty foot circle around the group. It grew until you could cut it with a knife. Then, with the subtlety of a monster truck in a china shop, it was broken.

"What's with your clothing!?" both females yelled.

"You're wearing so much armor! How do you even move!?" asked Pyrrha incredulously.

"And you're wearing so little! It's indecent!" exclaimed Carolina.

"You take some off!" shouted the Mistralian Champion.

"You put some on!" yelled the Freelancer.

Tucker leaned over to Wash and whispered, "Personally I think the less-scary one is right."

"I heard that Tucker!"

The two redheads panted slightly, both confused and irrationally angry.

Pyrrha was the first to recover.

"I'm sorry. I...I didn't know how to react. My behavior was over-the-top and unnecessary."

The group was startled by the abrupt change in personality and recovery in poise and grace. The redhead's words carried the perfect amounts of embarassment, apology, and humility; no one in the group could bring themselves to react harshly or continue the previous exchange. Even Tucker was embarassed, if only for a moment before his thoughts turned towards the lewd. Carolina herself had rarely apologized, and when she had, it had always been reluctant and with the hint of a challenge, as if daring them to mock her. Now a look-alike girl had a much softer attitude, and Tucker felt as if he enjoyed the "shift" in power.

Naturally, he said something stupid.

"Dude, do you think she's into, y'know, that kind of stuff?"

"Shut up Tucker."

"I bet she good with a spear, if you know what I mean."

"Tucker. Stop."

"Dude, I-"

Pyrrha cringed at the pervert's comments. Objectification disgusted her, just as discrimination did. It just didn't make sense, how people could dehumanize others the way they did. A loud noise and a choked off scream made her head snap up as she saw her clone viciously punish the teal-armored man for his error.

Carolina accepted the other girl's apology with stunned silence. A simple apology would have done the trick. It was as if this girl felt as if she needed to prove her fault to everyone, as if she needed to take all of the blame. She wondered what she should say to reply to her "twin"'s apology. As she deliberated, she noticed the other girl's head was bowed and her eyes were downcast. Thanks to her audio enhancers in her helmet, as well as the fact that he was only a few feet away, she heard all of Tucker's pervy comments. As the comments continued, she noticed what few others did. The other redhead didn't react visibly, at least not to anyone who wasn't paying close attention. Carolina saw the subtle tightening of the tendons in the girl's neck, and the way her head dropped imperceptibly lower. Rather than seeing rage or fury in her eyes, she merely noticed and increased amount of sadness and loneliness. Sadness and loneliness that reminded her of herself. However, the two had very different ways of coping with their problems, as the Freelancer reacted the only way she knew, by getting rid of the problem. Namely, Tucker.

For the second time in that week, she beat the crap out of him. Her foot flashed upwards

in the span of a heartbeat, mercilessly burying itself in Tucker's crotch. Tucker let out a very unmanly squeal and dropped to his knees.

"She...she kicked my in the nuts. She just...kicked...she just…."

Pyrrha looked at the crumbled set of armor that seemed to be letting out almost in-humanly high-pitched squeaks. The sounds it made shouldn't have been able to be porduced by a homosapien; she couldn't understand what it was saying at all. What she did understand was that this clone of hers was rather unforgiving, especially when it came to catcalls. On occasion, and by complete accident, she'd struck her opponents in the groin and had first hand seen the effects of what such strike did to its victims. Especially the males. She'd never gone full-force or tried to strike at that area, as she found it unsportsmanlike and rather disgusting, but her clone didn't seem to have any qualms about delivering such harsh reprimations. Then again, the other woman was wearing thick armor. Pyrrha instinctively got up and helped, her kind nature immediately forgiving the pervert for his previous crimes. He'd suffered, hadn't he? He needed help, didn't he? He'd learned his lesson, hadn't he?

Carolina was surprised as her doppelganger got up and tried to comfort the pervert. The spartan-esque warrior spoke softly and asked Tucker if he was alright, to which he stupidly responded.

"I think I've died and gone to heaven. Because why else would I have a beautiful angel in front of me."

Taken aback by Tucker's statement and the sheer tenacity of his perverted side, Pyrrha leaned away and almost fell over. Her face flushed as she tried to form an articulate response.

This time it was Wash who intervened, thankfully for Tucker.

Pyrrha froze as she heard the tell-tale sound of a pistol slide being racked. Turning her head, she saw the grey-and-yellow armored figure holding a very bulky and very dangerous-looking pistol against the head of the pitiful mess that was Tucker (the undamaged head, mind you).

In a voice that was undeniably dripping with lethality and liquid murder, the figure spoke. "If you want to die, then I'm sure I can arrange that."

Out of nowhere, a bright red armored figure jumped in. Brandishing a dangerous-looking...wait, was that a shotgun? Pyrrha had never seen a firearm that menacing. Most weapons used by Huntsmen and Huntresses combined utility with form, especially Mistralian warriors, who blended nature with their homes. This weapon wasn't meant to be unique or please the eyes of those who saw it; it had one purpose, and that was to deliver bright and explosive death to those unfortunate enough to get in range. It could probably disintegrate the head of an Ursa with a single shot. It might even be able to punch a hole into the armor of Deathstalkers as well.

"What're we doing? Killing Tucker? I'm in! Dirty blue deserves it."

After hearing the twangy and gruff voice, Pyrrha thought back to last night, when she had noticed the variation in the colors the strange people's armor. There was split in the color scheme, although the most menacing two were blue and grey, unbalancing the apparent teams. There were also the two purple ones, who seemed more neutral.

"Hey Missy."

Pyrrha blinked and looked up, only to see her reflection in a golden visor with a hexagonal pattern etched into it. Unsure of what the figure wanted, she hesitantly replied.

"Yes?"

"I see you're on board for Red Team! Nice going. Put 'er there."

Confused as to what this drill-sergeant was talking about, she noticed his outstretched arm and realized it wanted a fist bump. So she obliged. Afterwards, the drill-sergeant turned his attention back to the crippled pervert while the others either laughed at his misfortune or stood off to the side. Though she was hesitant to become the center of attention for this strange group of people again, she _really_ needed answers.

"Um. Excuse me?"

As one, every visor in the area turned to look at her. It was like staring down a group of cyclops, only they were equipped with dangerous firearms.

"Could-could someone please explain what is going on?" Pyrrha asked.

"We could try, but it'd probably take at least fourteen seasons of online videos to do that." said Wash.

"That sounds…..rather specific."

Then, everyone assembled jumped as a loud, microphone-enhanced voice reminded everyone to go prepare for the initiation.

"Oh! Sorry. I have to go now." Pyrrha hurriedly stated, "Before I go, what's your name again? I'd like to talk later."

Carolina looked at the other girl. It felt odd telling a copy of herself who she was, but she obliged.

"Call me Carolina."

Pyrrha turned to leave, but was stopped by the teal armored female. Slightly unnerved at the armored forearm that blocked her path, she paused.

"Yes? What do you want Carolina?"

The narrow slit visor gazed blankly at her, while the helmet tilted to the right slightly, like an inquisitive dog. It was rather amusing, if you didn't know she was one of the most lethal soldiers in the UNSC, barring the Spartan Corps.

"Sorry, I don't remember your name. Could you remind me?"

"Oh. My name is Pyrrha Nikos. You can just call me Pyrrha."

"Thanks. Where do we talk later?"

"We have a meeting after the initiation. We can meet there and organize a meeting."

The two redheads left, only to realize they were heading to the same place. Pyrrha gave the armored suit and incredulous look, only to remember that she couldn't read the emotions of a combat helmet.

Wash, Tucker, Sarge, and Donut watched the two number ones go. Their group stood still, mostly recovering from the shock of this strange meeting.

"I think we've just witnessed history." said Sarge.

"No kidding." said Wash, "One Carolina is scary enough."

"I think the new one's hotter."

"Yeah. I like the Greek-Amazoness look that she has. But it's not like she's a clone of Carolina, right? I mean, she can't be as good at fighting, and she isn't as mean." said Donut.

"This new girl is a _lot_ nicer, maybe she'll let me cop a feel,"

Wash face-palmed. _Right, in his dreams._

"And there's no way someone that hot is a fighter. I mean, she's got the perfect body, lean and toned. You see her arms? They're lean, but not muscled like Carolina's."

Wash sighed. Tucker never learned, did he? Then again, if he had to capacity to increase his knowledge base, he probably wouldn't have been thrown into Blood Gulch.

"She's gonna be tough to take down, you can bet on that." said Sarge.

"Why?" asked Tucker.

"Cuz she's red. That's why."

For a moment, Wash almost had hope for Sarge. For a very fleeting moment, Agent Washington _almost_ had hope for Sarge. Then he remembered. Sarge is Sarge. There was no hope for these idiots. That was a fundamental rule of the universe, as concrete and permanent as the basic laws of physics.

"Guys, let's go."

The four made their way to the lockers. As they walked, Wash had to add his two cents.

"Sarge is right. That girl is going to be a handful."

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

"Tucker, shut up. Anyway, I know a good fighter when I see one, and honestly, she just screams skill. Besides, I really can't see someone with Carolina's face sucking."

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

"Damn it Tucker! Some girl at this school is going to kill you for that."

Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and literally every other female sneezed.

"Pfft. Right, all the ladies love me."

Oh, poor Tucker was in for a rough time.


	10. Chapter 10

**6/15/2018**

 **So I wanted to get this out as quickly as possible. Right now I'm focusing on JNPR rather than RWBY, simply because there are more parallels between JNPR and the Freelancers. RWBY will get their attention, but I actually find the JNPR characters easier to write about, as they have more consistent performances and more character development. Enjoy!**

 **Please review and comment. Beta readers appreciated.**

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos shook her head in bewilderment, still processing the strange series of events that had just occurred. The other redhead, Carolina, she reminded herself, had turned back to drag the rest of her group to the preparation room.

" _Focus Pyrrha, focus"_ she chided herself. " _I have to-"_

She was snapped out of her private thoughts by the sudden introduction of another armored warrior. Unlike the previous ones, this one had a less defined and more angular helmet that seemed to be less advanced. Somehow, he….he just….she really didn't want to judge, but….he just seemed dumb.

"Hello!"

Unsure of this new character, she cautiously responded in kind.

"Hello."

The two stood there, both unmoving. Pyrrha maintained her practiced body language of confidence and poise. Internally, she was awkward as hell (hell probably isn't even fire and brimstone, it's just an eternal state of unfinished conversations, staring, and embarrassment).

Caboose stood still because he did that a lot. Internally, was a void more vast and empty than the depths of space themself. In fact, there was more nothing in there than the nothing in the physical universe. Words cannot describe the emptiness that was Caboose's mind.

The pregnant pause persisted. The silence lasted a moment, then two, then three, then four. The tension and uncertainty built, an entropy of awkwardness, timidity, and discomposure that grew and grew, threatening to explode into a localized Big Bang of unease and shyness.

It was standard conversational knowledge that a conversation was a back and forth between to people, ending when they ran out of things to say. Pyrrha was waiting for a reply from the armored man, who looked like he was pretending to be a statue.

Knowing Caboose, that might very well have been the case.

Pyrrha couldn't bear the oppressive weight of silence anymore and spoke.

"Can I-"

"Hi pretty lady!"

It was usually considered faux pas to interrupt someone. Given the simplistic response and the tone it was delivered in, Pyrrha wanted to assume that the speaker was, well, mentally challenged.

"Can I help-"

"Do you want to meet Freckles?"

Pyrrha blinked again. These armored men and women seemed to be very diverse. Their armor may have been similar, but they were as different as night and day. A pervert, a no-nonsense soldier, a more aggressive clone of herself, and now, a….a rather "childish" person.

"I'm sorry, Freckles?"

"Yes. Here he is."

The blue armored man moved abruptly, proudly displaying his assault rifle.

"Oh."

Non-sequitur after non-sequitur spilled from this man's mouth. It was a common tradition that Huntsmen and Huntresses named their weapons, but she'd never heard of a name like Freckles.

"Yeah, he's really awesome," the strange man drawled, placing emphasis on the word "really", and continued to describe his weapon as a pet, "He doesn't eat much, but he likes walks, and I need to get him a ball."

"Oh."

"Do you want to say hi?"

"Sure….Hello Freckles."

Pyrrha Nikos almost became the first inhabitant of Remnant to go to space, because she swore her soul flew out of her body and onto the moon when the gun _spoke_ to her.

"Hello. Unknown contact has been designated as friendly."

The harsh synthesized voice was alarming and unexpected. Pyrrha had to calm her racing heart down for a few moments before answering. Fortunately, the blue man didn't seem to mind to much, as he began _stroking_ his weapon like it was some sort of tiny animal.

"Hell-hello Freckles. It's nice to meet you, I, I have to go now, I'll see you later." she replied shakily, and began trying to leave as soon as possible so as to not suffer a mental breakdown.

" _Hopefully not."_ her mind said.

"Bye." said a human voice.

"Goodbye." said a robotic voice.

She walked briskly past her strange acquaintance and practically sprinted to the locker rooms the moment she turned the corner. What sort of person treated a dangerous weapon such as an assault rifle as pet, and _stroked_ it? She was attacehd to Milo and Akouo, but not that attached. Next thing she knew, people would be sleeping with their deadly firearms or blades. What sort of world had she woken up in?

Ruby Rose cuddled Crescent Rose, resisting the urge to coo. Her baby was ready for action, and so was she. Weapons were better than people, especially that bratty girl with white hair.

Weiss Schnee caught sight of the Mistral Champion as she stepped into the preparation room, apparently slowing down from a sprint. Odd, she didn't take the spartan to be someone who was late; then again, there was a first time for everything.

Jaune Arc looked for his locker desperately. There was a gorgeous girl with snow-white hair that he really wanted to talk to, but finding his weapons before the initiation began. He wasn't sure what sort of test the initiation was, but it wasn't like they were going to throw him off a cliff, right? Breathe, he reminded himself. All you need is confidence.

The Reds and Blues made their way to the locker bays.

"Wait a second, where the f*ck is Caboose?"

They all froze in horror. It wasn't that Caboose couldn't take care of himself (well, he really couldn't, but Freckles could), it was just that he was a person with whom "Oops" could mean he accidentally stepped on gum or started a nuclear meltdown.

Before the crew could get too panicked at the disappearance of their most unpredictable loose-cannon, he appeared.

"Hello."

"Where were you?" asked Tucker.

"Over there."

"That's not really helpful."

Wash took over, given his role as babysitter of the Blue Team, and asked, "Caboose, when did you leave? Did you do anything, like, set someone on fire or break a precious artifact."

"Well, I just left."

"When?"

"When Carolina hit Tucker."

"And, did you do anything?"

"Oh! Right, right. I showed a lady Freckles!"

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

While Wash relaxed, reassured that they were not all going to die in a Caboose-related apocalypse, Carolina felt a sense of mounting dread when she combined the little information given by Caboose and the direction Pyrrha had gone.

"Who did you meet?"

"Ah, Carolina, you're back."

"Sh*t."

Carolina wanted to find her doppelganger and apologize, ten, no, twenty times for all the trouble they'd caused her. She seemed like a nice person, someone who didn't deserve the combination of weirdness that was Tucker's relentless perversion and Caboose mind-numbing conversation skills. To be honest, no one did.

She sighed. "Let's get to the locker rooms quickly."

"Cool, we're going the same way! Is it co-ed?"

Carolina had to restrain herself from lashing out again, finding it much harder than before. She realized that they'd all changed slightly after being transported. Wash and her were more likely to act on their emotions, as if their mental states had reverted along with their physical bodies. Tucker, was more horny and perverted than before, which she hadn't thought was possible. She had never really been too good at restraining herself, and becoming an unstable teenager with the added psychological burden of PTSD, stress, insomnia, and the other mental conditions Freelancer had so lovingly gifted her was a good thing for her already short temper.

Then again, York had liked her fiery nature, saying that it complemented her hair. If he were here, he'd probably be insufferable, a pseudo-Tucker, except far smoother and more likely to actually succeed in his endeavours.

" _Except he'd dead. And it's your fault."_

Carolina's ghosts just couldn't stay away, could they?

She looked forward to initiation, whatever it was. She needed to hit something.

Pyrrha checked over her weapon, deftly shifting through its forms. Her shield was as sturdy as ever. She stood up and began warming up, lightly jogging from one side of the room to the other. Afterwards, she began to stretch, swinging her legs from side to side, rotating her forearms, rolling her ankles and shoulders. As she did so, she felt eyes on her, one of which was a rather intense stare coming from a tall blonde who was eyeing her lithe form with poorly concealed desire. However, it was the white-haired and blue-eyed girl known as Weiss Schnee that got her attention as the heiress stepped foward to talk to the champion. Pyrrha recognized the practiced look the Schnee heiress wore on her face, and responded with her own fake smile. She knew that the heiress was seeking her out for association with someone famous. The champion was a stranger to Atlesian politics and power struggles, but knew that having influential acquaintances was a necessary part of social capital. Pyrrha decided to humor the heiress, though she was down that there weren't any potential friends she could make. All of the interactions, even if genuine, would be tainted in some way by her fame.

"Greetings Pyrrha, how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Feeling excellent now that I'm in your company."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"I'm honored."

The two smiled at each other, seemingly having an enjoyable conversation. However, Weiss was internally scheming to create a school-wide power hierarchy with herself at the top. Pyrrha really was as nice as the papers said she was. The heiress really wanted to be actual friends with her, but she needed to make a good impression first.

"So, I was thinking that the two of us should team up, we'd be rather formidable as a pair."

"That sounds grand! Though, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"I see."

The two were interrupted by a gangly blonde, not the one who was eyeing Pyrrha earlier, that was a female with long locks. The newcomer was about to say something when a large crash startled everyone in the room.

"Caboose, god damn it what did you do!?"

"Tucker did it."

"I'M THE ONE TALKING TO YOU NOW!"

"That sounded rather expensive." Simmons added helpfully.

All heads turned toward the source of the commotion. Pyrrha noticed the strange blue one standing at the end of a line of toppled lockers. Somehow, he'd managed to knock all of them over like dominoes. There was a large dent in the one closest to him. The most observant of the huntsmen/huntresses in training were shocked: just how strong was this guy?

Pyrrha saw her teal armored counterpart shaking her head in tired agony. The two made eye contact, or she thought she did, as the narrow visor prevented direct eye contact. A look of shared exasperation passed between the two of them. In spite of herself, she began to feel better. At least she had one person to share her feelings with. Carolina might be scary, but Pyrrha had dealt with a lot of scary in both the arena and the wild. Maybe she could find friend her doppelganger, the way she hadn't been able to find a friend within herself.


	11. Chapter 11

Jaune finally managed to find his weapons. Calming himself down, he walked over to the white-haired beauty, who happened to be talking with another attractive girl.

 _Confidence_.

He stepped forward with a spring in his step, waiting nearby to seize an opening and leap into the conversation. He waited. And waited. Then there was a loud crash as someone knocked over a row of heavy lockers.

There! A chance!

"Hey there. You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc."

Weiss rolled her eyes as this Arc inserted himself into the conversation while Pyrrha politely held back a laugh as the gangly blonde appeared out of nowhere. The redhead found it interesting that this Jaune Arc went straight for Weiss. Most people targeted her, even if she was with someone rich; celebrity status and popularity usually outweighed monetary influence. Unsurprisingly, Weiss tried to avoid even looking at him as she shut him down.

Pyrrha felt bad for Arc; he was only trying to make friends. Well, maybe trying to get himself a girlfriend, but he seemed harmless. A lot like an uncertain blond puppy in a new environment. He visibly drooped after Weiss's cold rejection, so Pyrrha tried to cheer him up like the unbelievably-kind-angel-the-world-never-deserved she was.

"I think you would be a great team leader."

She stifled another laugh as he did a complete 180 and perked up. Wasn't he a little too easily cheered up? However, her good mood was spoiled by Weiss, as she tried to emphasize Pyrrha's status, using it to shame Arc for even thinking he was good enough to have the champion on her team.

"Actually, I would love to be on your team."

The look of aghast horror on the Schnee heiress's face was priceless. As was the exuberant look of joy plastered on the Arc scion's face. Still, the young man over-pressured and Pyrrha ended up nailing him to the wall with her spear. Maybe that was a bit rude.

Carolina watched as her counterpart chatted pleasantly with the white-haired girl before the blonde all but tumbled his way into the conversation. She didn't remember teenagers being this oversexed. Then again, she had to admit that Pyrrha Nikos was beautiful. Not to mention, she seemed to carry an aura of respect and dignity. Maybe she was some sort of royalty? That would explain her association with the apparently-elite white-haired girl. She snickered under her helmet as she watched the blonde guy display both masks of tragedy and comedy at a rate that would make Jekyll & Hyde jealous, though she did raise an eyebrow at her counterpart used her spear to "forcibly" move the blonde away when he got a tad too close.

"It was nice meeting you."

The teal freelancer practically melted at the sweetness in Pyrrha's voice. Did she ever sound that good?

Wash was taken aback by the unusually violent display from the Carolina look-alike, but it appeared that there was no ill-will given her body language and poise. Since meeting Pyrrha Nikos, he'd been suspicious and wary of her. Something about her seemed fake. Somehow, whatever it was, it didn't seem malicious. She seemed like a genuinely nice person, but something about her was wrong. As a result, he'd kept a close eye on her. He turned to take in the reactions of the rest of Blue Team.

Caboose wasn't even looking in that direction. No point in analyzing him.

Tucker seemed to have some sort of strange body posture. He was hunched slightly. Oh god, he wasn't turned on, was he?

He hurriedly focused on Carolina. Wash was most interested in her reactions. It looked like she was enjoying observing her doppelganger, and the gray freelancer could relate. Watching Pyrrha Nikos was like watching a dog play around. Innocent and pure. Still, Carolina seemed off. There was an emotion he couldn't quite place. Carolina seemed…

...envious.

Red team sneakily observed Pyrrha Nikos under orders from Sarge. He'd marked her as a potential recruit to bolster the ranks of Red Army and give them an advantage over the dirty blues.

"Did she just nail that guy to the wall with a spear?" Grif was surprised, to say the least. When they met the spartan, she'd been anything but rude. So when she used her weapon to instantly create some distance between the blonde and the snowy-haired girl, he was reminded of Doctor Grey. A seemingly nice lady who turned out to be a psychopath.

Apparently, Simmons shared his fears. "Yikes."

Sarge, however, was more confident than ever in his headhunting talent.

She's a natural. If only that spear could turn into a shotgun.

"Boys, if we get her on our side, we win the war."

Grif and Simmons turned to stare at Sarge like he was one of the cabbages the maroon soldier had grown on Chorus (grown a third head).

"Are you serious?"

"She'll kill us!"

Donut seemed to disagree. "I don't know. It doesn't seem like it'll be that hard."

Grif and Simmons rotated their visors to stare at Donut now, as Sarge eagerly awaited the plan his subordinate had created to recruit their future trump card.

"What? She seems nice. I sure that if we just ask her, she'll join us."

"No. Logically, she could take all of us on by herself. There's no reason for her to hold herself back by joining us." Simmons took it from a deductive angle. "She's just like Tex! What was it that Sarge said? Woman to woefully inadequate man?"

"Every redhead with green eyes has been absolutely terrifying and threatened to kill us at some point!" Grif protested as well.

Donut was somewhat confused. "Haven't we only met one person with that description? Only Carolina has red hair and green eyes and threatened to kill us."

"Yeah. And that's enough."

Simmons was indignant of this sort of reasoning. "Hey, you can't conclude anything from a sample size of one. That's not an adequate experimental group, that's just correlation, not causation."

"Do I look like I care?"

Little did they know, Donut was probably right.

Finally, they made it to the initiation grounds. They were directed by Ozpin and Goodwitch to stand on the evenly spaced metal squares. The teachers did not explain the function of the metal sheets, but everyone in the Blood Gulch crew (except Caboose) had a sinking feeling that it was probably some sort of launchpad. Things they didn't understand had the tendency to send them flying. Except for Caboose, he didn't understand what was going on ever. So if that tendency applied to him, everything would spontaneously combust.

Moving on, the colorful squadron took their positions. They received odd looks from the few initiates who hadn't seen them up close before, but most people seemed preoccupied. They'd probably reached the same conclusion as the BGC.

The sinking feeling in the former sim-troopers' guts solidified as Ozpin mentioned they would be falling. Wash and Carolina, having leaped from a one-hundred-and-ten story building and flown in space with jetpacks before, were fine with a little fall. The two freelancers mainly focused on the next parts of Ozpin's brief info dump: don't hesitate to kill everything in your way and the first person you meet will be your partner. Wash also tracked down Pyrrha, wondering how Carolina's counterpart would land. He knew Carolina would likely try to use her grappling hook to redirect her fall until she could safely roll. He would probably have to attempt a roll without any sort of slow-down. Depending on how high he was thrown, it was possible to use a grenade shockwave to slow himself down. He'd live. Probably.

Doc was conversing with O'Malley, discussing the probability of survival if he attempted to slow his landing by using the concussive force of his rocket launcher. Somehow, they hadn't run out of ammunition. Doc didn't know how.

Grey was considering how many of her armored companions she would need to put back together. Caboose would be fine, he always was. The freelancers were competent enough, and Doc would probably survive as well. Grif might survive because he had an explosive weapon. Lopez was a robot. Sarge was probably going to survive. That left Tucker and Simmons. If it weren't for the author's fondness for the characters and plot convenience, they would probably die. As for herself, she would make it. No one doubted the Doctor's survivability.

Pyrrha's eyes flicked over to Carolina's form. She felt slightly worried for several of her fellow initiates. Jaune looked like he was going to throw up. He was going to need some help. There was also the group of armored figures. Though they seemed competent enough, that dark blue one might have some trouble. She also doubted the durability of the teal man as well. However, she'd have to use her semblance to save them, but there was probably too large of a distance. Not to mention, she hadn't touched them and didn't intend to get remotely close to the aquamarine pervert. She'd save her spear for Jaune, she decided.

Her eyes flicked over to the other viridian form in the line. Noticing Carolina's confident and prepared pose, she felt herself calm down a little. She wondered if she should seek out her twin's company first. No, if she used her spear to help Jaune, she'd need to get Milo back first. Without her weapon, she'd only hold her doppelganger back, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Ruby crouched and readied Crescent Rose. This was going to be a piece of cake. She'd practiced in-air movement with her weapon to the point where she could do this in her sleep.

Weiss mentally prepared herself and decided which glyphs she was going to use. Air-walk first, then maybe an elastic one to direct her to Pyrrha.

Yang Xiao Long cocked Ember Celica, enjoying the satisfying sound of bullet shells. She wondered if she should plan her landing strategy. Nah. It'd be more fun to wing it. She was so glad she'd brought along the aviator sunglasses.

Lie Ren took deep breaths, preparing himself for sudden combat. He had already warmed up and loosened his limbs. His automatic pistols remained hidden in his sleeves, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. His pink eyes flicked over to Nora's form. She seemed excited. Well, more than usual. His lips curled upwards slightly into a content smile. They'd be together. They always were.

Nora grinned and gripped her hammer. She couldn't wait to start smashing some Grimm into paste. Headmaster Ozpin was really nice, giving her this entire forest to play around in.

Blake calmed herself down. This was going to be easy, no different from the many raids she'd conducted as a member of the White Fang. Here it was, her second chance. Here was redemption.

Jaune focused on not throwing up. It was difficult.

Ozpin took in the line of initiates. Naturally, he had his eye on several. Nikos and Rose were obvious, especially as he'd let one of them in two years early based on skill. Still, Rose needed maturity, something Nikos had in spades. Perhaps it would be best if those two paired up. Then again, Nikos was probably going to partner with Arc. He knew Goodwitch was unsure of his decision to accept the Arc scion despite his poorly forged admission ticket. Ozpin knew he'd made a lot of mistakes, but taking Jaune Arc into his school was not one of them. The boy had potential, but he needed to think outside of the box and break away from the mold of a traditional huntsman. Perhaps he should push one of the two leaders of the spacemen to become Arc's partner. Freelancers, that was what they were called. He had no doubt as to whether or not those two would survive, but he suspected they would pass with flying colors. However, he wasn't so sure about the rest of their crew.

One by one, the initiates flew from their launchpads like human missiles. Immediately, the sound of gunshots filled the previously silent air as they employed various and awesomely-cool landing strategies. Initiation had begun.

Carolina's eyes flicked rapidly around, giving her a 180-degree view of her immediate surroundings. She took note of a clearing off in the distance, one with a stone structure. Was that where the relics were? It was worth investigating. Carolina instantly directed her attention back to employing a landing strategy. With a practiced hand, her grappling gun flicked up and the metal claw flew out. It bit in one of the sturdy trees, and Carolina felt the anticipated yank as she was redirected and slowed. She repeated the process again, before flipping upwards and landing lightly on a large tree branch. Her head turned as the freelancer stood up, surveying the area. A red blur crossed her sight as she saw her doppelganger smash through several trees and stand up without pause. Carolina wondered if she should try and pair up with Pyrrha, and have Wash pair up with another native of Remnant to gather more information. A gunshot alerted her to the trajectory of Pyrrha's spear, which appeared to be on intercept course with a flailing body. Judging from the colors and lack of coordination, it was probably Arc. The freelancer frowned. He was a little too incompetent to be here, wasn't he?

"Thank you!"

"I'm sorry!"

She was a little too nice to be here, wasn't she?

Wash realized he was thrown a lot higher than he thought was going to be. Oh well, time to improvise. This time, there was no Tex with a jetpack to redirect his fall. So, he'd have to make his own landing strategy. His hand closed around a fragmentation grenade, and he mentally calculated his speed, time until impact, and the grenade detonation. Seconds before hitting the ground, he primed and hurled the explosive, riding the shockwave upwards for a little before falling the last five meters. He neatly tucked and rolled coming up into a steady job. Carolina had landed in a tree in an 11 o'clock direction. He could cover the distance in two minutes at this rate.

Doc felt O'Malley take over and watched in awe as his body rocket-jumped to avoid a bone-shattering impact. Sometimes, it was nice to share a body with an insane artificial intelligence hellbent on murder.

Caboose smashed into the ground. He was fine.

Doctor Grey was fine, despite her lack of in-air movement. Maybe heaven and hell were too afraid of her to come and collect?

Grif fired his weapon wildly, trying to slow down his descent. He succeeded and felt himself slow down and bounce upwards slightly. That was until he felt a massive impact on his back as Simmons drove him into the ground.

Sarge clutched his shotgun, determined not to let it go. "You want a fight? Bring it on!" he shouted as the ground raced towards his face.

Lopez's launchpad somehow didn't launch him as far or high as the others, so he acted as a cushion for Donut. The two landed in a tangled heap of flesh and metal. Both worked to extricate themselves before they were slammed back into the ground by roughly two-hundred pounds of shotgun and pure red.

Tucker flew through the air like some sort of strange avian. He saw a tree rushing up to meet him, so he swung his sword. It didn't cut through the tree entirely, leaving less than an inch of wood to connect the two parts. He ended up smashing into the tree and instinctively wrapped his arms and legs around it. The thin piece of wood holding the top part upright snapped, and it fell to the ground with Tucker still attached. That counts as a landing strategy, right?

In various ways and with varying degrees of pain, the Blood Gulch crew found themselves back in the Emerald Forest. This time, they had a large number of near-professional Grimm ass-kickers with them. That was not to say that they were completely safe, as most Grimm didn't care about the number of prey. Humans were humans. They needed to die. The Grimm residing in the Emerald Forest came alive as one and moved to track down their hated enemy, who prepared to welcome their inevitable arrival with explosive violence.

Pyrrha moved quickly through the foliage to retrieve her weapon. She encountered a snarling Beowulf. The red-haired huntress decisively hurled her shield at its face to stagger it. As it recoiled, she leaped up and snatched Akouo out of the air. Her lithe body twisted and her heeled boots came down onto the monster's skull. It's head smashed into the ground with a satisfying crunch as she rolled forward into a fighting stance, just in case it got up. It didn't.

She continued onwards rapidly. A flash of aquamarine caught her eye. Thinking it was Carolina, she altered course and jogged towards it.

"Ow! What the f*ck!? Stupid tree."

Pyrrha practically dove behind a bush as she realized it was not her identical twin, but the person she wanted to be paired with the least. Was she a nice person and willing to give most people a chance? Yes. Was she up for getting ogled for four years? Not if she had a choice in the matter.

"Ah! Tucker!"

"What the sh*t? Oh, f*ck, my partner's Caboose. Why god!? Why!? Literally anyone but him!"

Pyrrha decided to take advantage of the distraction to run for it. She was so eager to escape that she bowled over an unmoving figure in gray armor. As she rolled to her feet, she heard the tell-tale sign of weapons being raised. It was Carolina, and she had a very menacing handgun with her. Pyrrha relaxed and lowered her shield as she saw the gun being aimed in the direction she came from.

"How many?" Carolina's ice-cold voice floated over. It was clear she was in combat mode.

Pyrrha shook her head negatively. "None."

"Really?" The gray figure, the one that sounded like Headmaster Ozpin, seemed skeptical. Wash? That was his name.

"Yes. I'm not being chased."

Carolina lowered her gun cautiously, still staring at the forest behind Pyrrha warily. "I don't see anything."

Pyrrha realized that she probably worried her acquaintances with her terminal velocity entrance. "There's nothing."

Both freelancers nodded but were clearly waiting for an explanation. Carolina had a sudden realization when considering what could be in that direction and remember the trajectory of Tucker and Caboose's launch. "Did you run into Tucker? Or Caboose?"

The spartan was a little embarrassed to say yes, but both of the freelancers clearly understood her explanation.

Wash shuddered slightly. The poor girl couldn't catch a break. He still felt that something was off, but being an attractive woman paired with someone like Tucker was a fate none deserved. Not to mention Caboose. To be honest, he probably would have sprinted away from those two at Mach 10 as well.

He frowned thoughtfully. "Wait, are they paired together?"

Pyrrha nodded.

Wash practically collapsed in relief. The other initiates were safe. Not to mention, Tucker was going to be miserable with Caboose as his companion, and that was a definite plus.

He wondered if the redhead had other intentions when moving in this direction. "Hey Pyrrha, did you want to pair up with Carolina?"

She blinked in surprise but responded. "I wouldn't mind."

"No, um, I was asking if you wanted to be paired with Carolina."

"She seems like someone I would get along with, but if you already made eye contact and wanted to be her partner, I could go-"

Wash realized that it was difficult to hold a conversation with Pyrrha when you tried to determine her motives. This could have gone on for hours, but Carolina stepped in.

"Pyrrha, would you rather be partners with Jaune or myself? Wash and I aren't from here, so we wouldn't mind being paired with you or other students."

Pyrrha considered the statement for a while. "If the two of you aren't from around here, I think you should stay together. But I won't mind answering any questions you have. Even after initiation, you can talk to me about anything."

Carolina decided to take the offer. Based on Jaune's performance thus far, she was a little uncertain about leaving Wash to potentially become his partner. Still, at least they had an information source. Pyrrha seemed eager to help and also appeared very knowledgeable.

All of them almost broke their necks when they heard Tucker and Caboose moving in their general direction. They also heard the chatter of Red Team coming from another direction.

Carolina took in Pyrrha's shiftiness and deduced that she wanted to leave as quickly as possible. Wash noticed as well and took charge.

"Lina, you go with Pyrrha. I'll shepherd the others."

Pyrrha protested. "No, no. You two are partners, you should stay together."

Carolina insisted, pointing out that Pyrrha was missing her weapon.

Pyrrha still seemed reluctant to separate Wash and Carolina.

"If we leave now, we can avoid Tucker and Caboose."

That seemed to be the final nudge that Pyrrha needed, as the two redheads set off. Carolina contacted Wash through their helmet communications.

 _"Sorry."_

 _"It's fine."_

 _"I'll make it up to you."_

 _"Don't worry. We just saw her smash through several trees without a care in the world."_

 _"Yeah, I got it. I'll ask about that."_

There was a hesitant pause.

 _"Thanks Wash."_

 _"No problem."_

Wash sighed. He steeled himself and went forward to greet the rest of the Blood Gulch crew. If Church could do it, he could do it. Probably.


	12. Chapter 12

The two scarlet warrioresses moved through the foliage swiftly, their near-identical emerald eyes sweeping the Emerald forest for enemies. They unconsciously adapted to each other's movement. Carolina was alerted to this fact when she heard snarling and rustling from her left. Before she could react, Pyrrha called out to her. She pivoted and trained her weapon in that direction, noticing Pyrrha's defensive stance. Three Beowolves launched themselves out of the bushes. The first one was thrown back after receiving a high caliber pistol round between the eyes.

"There's one more! An Ursa Minor!

Carolina shot the rightmost Beowulf in the chest, knocking it sideways. Meanwhile, Pyrrha had leaped up and smashed her armored kneecap into the final Beowolf's chin before bashing its head with her shield. The Grimm was thrown directly into Carolina's line of fire and was dropped like an overcooked microwave snack. Both women directed their attention to the large form of the Ursa Minor charging through the underbrush on all fours. Neither paid any attention to the second Beowulf as the freelancer shot it in the head without looking.

Pyrrha hurled her shield low so that it impacted on the bear-like Grimm's arms, forcing it to dive headfirst into the dirt. As Akouo bounced back, Carolina jumped and flipped over the spinning shield and stomped onto the Ursa's head. She crouched and tensed, waiting for the Grimm to force itself up. When the freelancer used the upward momentum to dive forward and roll past the Ursa, Pyrrha launched a powerful upwards kick to the chin, snapping its upper body into the air. Carolina spun and swept out the Ursa's legs. The momentum from Pyrrha's kick sent the large Grimm over Carolina's low form. As it thudded into the ground, Carolina rose and emptied three rounds into its skull.

The freelancer turned to scan their surroundings, only to see Pyrrha doing the same. Both confirmed that the area was secure and continued onwards.

As they ran, Pyrrha felt like she needed to talk about their cohesion. "Well, we're rather synchronized."

Carolina nodded. "Yeah. You're pretty experienced, the way you checked our surroundings and noted that big bear thing."

Pyrrha flushed and smiled at the praise. "I'm just trying to help."

Carolina wondered where their burst of cohesion had come from. The only time she'd been able to synchronize her fighting with others had been with the other freelancers. And that had only come after years of combat next to them, and still, she couldn't really work that well with certain members like C.T. or Tex. Somehow, with Pyrrha, she'd been able to feel that level of comfort and trust in a teammate even though they'd only met that morning.

Pyrrha had to keep herself from grinning excitedly. Fighting with a partner and being able to understand them was extremely enjoyable for a duelist like her. Some part of her regretted turning down her doppelganger's offer to be partners. If she'd known how good it felt to fight next to Carolina, Pyrrha would have had a lot more difficulty turning down the offer. She hoped she'd get more opportunities to team up with her twin in the future.

While both redheads savored the sweet nectar that is good, constructive teamwork, the reality wasn't as incredible as they both thought it was. Carolina wasn't able to work with the freelancers on the lower end of the spectrum because she didn't put them in her eyes as equals, partly because of her competitive attitude and partly because she could outpace them. Agents like Tex or even South Dakota were bad matches for her because of personal problems between them. Carolina was a very adaptive fighter, and could easily mesh with combatants of similar skill. Pyrrha definitely qualified, and Carolina had a good impression of the girl. As a result, Carolina was able to pull off the sort of teamwork she'd only experienced with her team of elite freelancers of North Dakota, York, and Wash.

Despite Pyrrha's ability in dueling, she was a very cooperative person at heart. Even though she hadn't had much experience fighting in a group, she had talent in understanding and predicting the other person's actions. The situation also required her fighting style to be supportive, given that she only had a shield. In order to help rather than harm, Pyrrha frontlined, using her shield as cover for Carolina's range, directing Grimm into her line of fire while leaving it unobstructed, and using her superior knowledge of the Grimm to shotcall. Because of her nature and willingness to play support, she simply took the best role for the two to succeed.

In the end, both fighters were similar. Neither had any particularly devastating finishing moves or power. Both were agile fighters who could target weak points and take advantage of opportunities. What made them top-tier was their ability to create opportunity when none occurred naturally. This improved their cohesion as they could predict each other's movements. In this situation, their personalities were also emphasized. Carolina was more aggressive and had the more dangerous weapon. Pyrrha was more defensive and held the similar fighting style, experience, and personalities led to their incredible teamwork.

They only encountered one more pocket of Grimm before they reached Jaune. Both felt as if they could run ahead together and fight anything they came across. Despite their nature, both were a bit disappointed that no more Grimm came at them. Either way, they retrieved Pyrrha's spear and rescued Jaune Arc from the tree, officially partnering Pyrrha and Jaune.

Jaune shuffled awkwardly. "So… Where do we go?"

Pyrrha looked to Carolina instinctively.

The freelancer pointed decisively in a 9:30 direction. "There's a structure over there that might hold the relics."

Jaune blinked. He pointed at Pyrrha, then at Carolina in confusion. "Uh… Who said that?"

Carolina pointed to herself as Pyrrha gestured to the freelancer.

"Why do you guys sound the same?"

Both females shrugged.

"Ok. Cool."

Pyrrha glanced at her clone. "How do you know where the relics are?"

Carolina shook her head. "I don't. I just saw a stone structure in that direction. Since the rest of the area is just forest, I think we should check there first."

"I didn't see anything," Jaune said.

"Neither did I," Pyrrha added, wondering how her new friend knew about their potential destination. Friend? Hopefully, they would be friends.

Carolina shrugged. "I saw it when I got launched."

Jaune nodded while Pyrrha gave an appreciative "oh". Jaune and Carolina both looked at her, prompting her to explain.

"Using your situation to gain an understanding of your surroundings. Wow, could you help me with my situational awareness?"

Carolina smiled happily under her helmet. "To be honest, I don't think I can really teach you anything. You're already really good."

Jaune backed off, feeling excluded from the conversation. He was really glad that Pyrrha wasn't wearing a helmet like the other woman whose name he still hadn't gotten yet. If he couldn't see the celebrity's mouth move, he wouldn't know which woman was talking.

Carolina smiled as she felt the connection between her and Pyrrha deepen. She couldn't brush off a feeling of unease, however. Something about Jaune Arc rattled her, but she couldn't really place it. Maybe it was his low skill-level and the fact that Pyrrha would need to drag him around in the future? Why did he sound familiar?

Wash led the Blood Gulch crew in the direction Carolina and Pyrrha had sprinted off to. Carolina had directed him to where she believed the relics were held before she left. Now it was his job to ensure that everyone got there in one piece.

He ran his eyes over the motley crew he was leading. Some were arguing loudly, swearing and cursing each other, the environment, and literally everything in general. Some spoke nonsense and confused anyone they attempted to talk to. There was no formation, just a loose gaggle of armed idiots.

It was a far cry from the elite soldiers Wash used to work with. They would cover each others' backs and stay silent. They would use hand signals and coordinate to maximize their situational awareness.

The multicolored troopers were as coordinated as their colors were unified. But Wash knew from personal experience, that the moment any sort of enemy appeared, they would somehow survive without injury and continue on as nothing had happened.

For example, seven Beowolves and three Ursa Minors charged them. With a lot of screaming and yelling, they were all blown to bits or shredded within seconds. The cacophony of noise made by the Blood Gulch crew was louder than the bullets and rockets they used and lasted a lot longer.

Wash was less concerned about everyone making it to their destination than he was about staying sane.

 _For the love of god and everything holy, please let us be there soon._

To say that Jaune was intimidated would be an understatement.

Despite his supposedly indifferent attitude back in the locker room when Weiss revealed Pyrrha's celebrity status, he was very impressed. Now she was his partner, even though he'd never believed she would actually end up on his team since she seemed nice and looked like she could take a joke. Not only was such a skilled celebrity his partner for the next four years, someone who sounded exactly like her and was probably just as adept at combat.

Sandwiched between the two, he felt that familiar feeling of being an anchor. Any time he practiced with his sisters or fought in a group at his previous combat school, he always had to be carried through.

He wasn't an idiot. He knew a good fighter when he saw one since his family had such close contact with top-tier huntsmen and huntresses. Pyrrha and Carolina both acted like warriors, taking in their surroundings with casual ease and dispatching any enemies without any difficulty.

As for Jaune...

He was kind of just there.

Not fighting. Not talking. Not helping. And he hated that.

Pyrrha took point, since she had the most defense. Carolina was best suited for range and stayed slightly back. They'd made the arrangement without talking. Jaune walked in the middle of them and had his shield ready, but was clearly uncomfortable and didn't know what to do. Pyrrha stepped forward and brushed a tree branch aside. Jaune was looking in a different direction and was nearly whacked in the face by the offending wooden branch. He'd managed to block it with his shield, but it had shattered and grazed his face.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha turned around hurriedly.

"He's alright." Carolina pre-emptively stopped the inevitable flood of apologies from Pyrrha.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jaune groaned slightly.

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha stepped forward.

"Yeah, small graze. Nothing major-eh-uh what are you doing."

Pyrrha reached out gently and pulled out the wooden splinter from the blonde's cheek. Jaune's eyes widened in horror.

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha repeated.

"Yea-yeah." Jaune squeaked, thinking about how close that was to lodging itself in his eye.

"Why didn't your aura protect you?"

Carolina and Jaune both looked at Pyrrha in confusion.

"Sorry what?" Jaune asked.

"Your aura."

"Gesundheit."

Carolina stepped forward. "Aura? What's aura?"

Pyrrha blinked in surprise. She knew that aura was only explained and talked about in the later years of combat school, but still, a huntsman or huntress at Beacon's initiation not knowing what about aura was already rare. Not to mention two.

"Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It's our sixth sense, warning us of danger and protecting us from harm."

Jaune blinked in understanding. "So it's like a forcefield."

"Somewhat."

Carolina considered Pyrrha's statement. Huntsmen/huntresses had some sort of energy that protected them from harm. She knew about the Spartan program's energy shielding and had always wished for that sort of system to be built into her armor. Apparently, these people had a biological energy shield.

"Jaune, do you… not have your aura unlocked?" Pyrrha felt as if she knew the answer.

"Probably not." Jaune had the grace not to pointlessly lie.

"I can unlock it for you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Carolina breathed a sigh of relief. Her armor offered her some form of protection, so felt like she could keep up with her counterpart when it came to taking damage. But Jaune was lacking in skill, severely lacking in skill. And he was Pyrrha's partner for the next four years. Carolina was very glad that they'd managed to find this problem so early. She watched as Pyrrha placed a hand over Jaune's heart and recited some sort of poem. A clear and bright glow began to emanate from the two, a rich scarlet surrounding Pyrrha's figure and a clean white light shone from Arc. He looked down at his hands in awe but stared at Pyrrha in alarm as the redhead bent over in apparent exhaustion.

"Pyrrha?"

Carolina looked over at her twin in concern. Pyrrha was someone who was important to their trio's survival. If Carolina was the only one capable of defending them and needed to protect Jaune and Pyrrha, she wasn't sure she could do so. It wasn't like she had a stellar track record extracting two other people.

"I'm fine." Pyrrha straightened and smiled. "Wow Jaune, you have a lot of aura."

"Aura sizes can be different?" Carolina asked.

"There's not too much variation in the amount. It's just that some of it sometimes takes a while to appear, so younger people usually have significantly less aura than older people. The release rate varies from person to person. Jaune has more than me, but by the time we graduate, we should have roughly the same amount."

Carolina nodded. At least Jaune had more shielding. Pyrrha could take care of herself very well, but Jaune would probably need protection far more than her.

"Carolina, do you not have your aura unlocked either?"

"I didn't even know about aura until you talked about it. From where I'm from, no one's ever heard about it." Carolina answered truthfully. Too truthfully.

"Where you're from? You're not from here?"

Carolina cursed internally. She hadn't meant to reveal her extraterrestrial origins or even let on to the fact that they weren't local this early. They'd only escaped scrutiny from the other students because of a simple fact: though their armor and weapons were strange, the variety of clothing and arms the natives of Remnant possessed provided a good enough cover for them. Pyrrha was an understanding person and probably wouldn't pry. Either way, judging from the way they'd hit it off, her group of foreign space people would probably spill the beans at some point.

"It's a long story. Maybe later?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Should I unlock your aura?"

 _And get the sort of forcefield I've always wanted? Hell yes._

They assumed similar poses, and Pyrrha began to glow as she recited the mantra, but she soon stopped in confusion as the freelancer remained unchanged.

"Is something wrong?" Carolina asked.

"Yes, it's just- your aura seems like it's sealed." Pyrrha frowned unhappily. "I can't unlock it."

Carolina nodded. It was disappointing, but she figured she could manage. No use in making Pyrrha feel bad for something out of her control. Though Carolina didn't like being one of few without biological force fields in a world full of them, she could take care of herself. It wasn't like she didn't know how to fight from a disadvantage.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Pyrrha sighed, clearly in distress but unable to do something. The three began to head towards the stone structure again. They made good time but were soon distracted by a very loud scream. Everyone whipped their heads around to look in the direction of the fearful cry.

Pyrrha glanced nervously at Carolina. "Do you hear…"

"Something's coming this way."

Jaune gulped hard and gripped his sword tighter.

"Uh...what's coming this way?"

"I don't know, just that it's big and can knock over trees. Lots of trees."

Weiss really didn't like the red-cloaked girl. She was loud, obnoxious, and immature. As if messing up the Schnee heiress moments before wasn't enough, she'd gotten them into a cave with a Deathstalker. Now the two of them were running for their lives at breakneck speed with a massive scorpion chasing after them.

"There were markings on the cave walls! How did you not see them!?"

Ruby grimaced at the heiress's wails.

"Why didn't you say anything!?"

"Because you'd already run in you dolt!"

The two bickered fiercely as they ran, the massive scorpion chasing after them flattening a good portion of the forest behind them.

"How are we going to search for the relics like this!?"

Ironically, their distress would soon be alleviated as the two initiates were heading straight for the relics in question. Unfortunately, that meant that their new acquaintance was heading in the same direction. Whether or not it was unfortunate for the initiates or the Grimm itself was to be decided.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone, CoI here. This is a longer chapter than usual, approaching 5,000 words. There's a lot more analysis and foundations for significant character growth in this chapter as well, I'm really trying to build up each character as an individual. Jaune is going to be a lot more useful and developed in the show and Ruby will also see some character changes. I had some time recently so I was able to bang out this chapter, but I'm about to be inundated with college essays so the next chapter may take a while to arrive. Constructive criticism is gladly accepted; enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Pyrrha and Carolina wheeled in unison towards the loud crashing noises. Jaune also whirled over, albeit in a less coordinated fashion. Say what you want, but he did have good instincts when it came to things trying to kill him. Not to mention, anyone who wasn't aware of the massive scorpion literally flattening the forest heading their way was probably deaf or stupid. The three initiates were all set in defensive stances, clearly wary of getting into a fight with whatever was heading their way. However, human nature dictated that they stay and look rather than turn and run the other way. Naturally, they wanted to get a look at what was chasing them. Fleeing from an unknown enemy would be far more terrifying. In addition, they were (two-thirds) skilled combatants and knew the value of knowing their enemy.

As a result, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Carolina were all ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Their eyes strained towards the source of the sound. Pyrrha and Carolina's legs were bent but loose, ready to apply pressure and take off whenever. Jaune, however, was as tense as the wires on a suspension bridge.

The entity smashed its way closer and closer. The jarring impacts were now visually linked to treetops in the not-so-distant distance falling over. The crashes grew louder and louder as if a giant was stomping its way over.

Two small figures appeared in their view. The three instantly recognized the Schnee heiress's slender, doll-like frame and snow-white appearance. No one knew the black-and-red girl but instantly identified her as a fellow initiate. The two sprinted towards the trio of their peers at breakneck speed. For a moment, the two initiates were the only ones in view. Then the Deathstalker appeared out of the thin air. Not seamlessly like a well-done magic trick, but like a wrecking ball smashing through the side of a log cabin.

 _Holy sh*t, that's a large scorpion._

Carolina had seen Grimm before, but those were all the smaller, easier-to-kill types. This one looked a lot less killable than the Beowolves and Ursas from before and a lot more dangerous as well. Apparently, the increased defense did not mean decreased offense. Carolina kept her feet and her head though, as she had stared down tanks before. However, this monster was giving off the same aura as a tank. Big, mean, and dangerous. Plus, it could knock over trees, so that's something.

Pyrrha and Carolina waited for their fellow initiates to close the distance before taking off at the monstrous Grimm. Both quenched their desire to start taking potshots at the Deathstalker, knowing it would be futile. Ruby and Weiss were joined by the trio as they formed a group of five, fleeing from the same monster, heading in the 9:30 direction Carolina suggested they go in the first place.

* * *

"Get sarged dirtbags!"

"Two points you dirty-"

"AGH! What's the universe's problems with my balls!?"

"Hah! Oh F*CK!"

"Mean doggies will not scare me!"

"Quiero terminar mi existencia."

Wash shepherded the arsenal of loose cannons known as the Blood Gulch Crew towards the stone structures Carolina pointed out the way one would corral a group of exploding roombas or something like that. As expected, they tore through anything in their path, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake. It was this swath of charred forest and explosion marks that Yang and Blake found.

Blake raised an eyebrow at the destruction. Not even her most hectic shoot-outs with the Atlesian military had left so much damage to the environment. Whoever had gone by either had too powerful weapons or horrible aim. Or they were pyromaniacs who liked explosions, like the grinning blonde next to her.

"Whoo." Yang breathed out, "Someone had some fun here."

Blake nodded and continued to scan their surroundings.

"I bet I could do this in less than a minute though."

Blake nodded less this time and continued to ignore her partner.

"Nah. Maybe thirty seconds."

Okay, the blonde was a talkative one.

"What do you think?"

Blake continued to ignore Yang in the hopes that she would calm down and leave her alone. However, Yang did not calm down as she continued to pester her mysteriously silent partner.

"C'mon Blake, what do you think?"

Blake finally turned to face the grinning blonde.

"I think we should focus on observing our surroundings and remaining alert so we don't get ambushed by Grimm."

"Aww, baby, don't be like that. If anything appears I'll punch it and you'll-" Yang trailed off for a moment as she thought back to what Blake had done to the Ursa. "You'll use- Hm. Whatever your weapon does to- I don't know, stab them?"

"Do you ever close your mouth?"  
"I try not to. Though, if you want it closed, you can always do so with your lips."

Blake cast a withering side-glare at her partner, who remained rather un-withered. After a moment of silence as playful lilac stared into calculating honey, Yang moved a step away from Blake as the two continued to follow the trail of destruction.

Still, to make sure that no one felt that she was intimidated by the brunette, Yang continued to speak.

"Ooh." She drew out the vowels of her enunciation, continuing with "You're one of the quiet and mysterious ones. Don't worry, I'll open you up."

Blake shivered at the underlying implications of the blonde's statement. This Yang Xiao Long was going to be a handful, but maybe not in a bad way.

* * *

The Blood Gulch Crew reached the structure containing the relics. When Wash saw the Stonehenge-esque structure and the age of the rocks, he mentally prepared himself for ensuing destruction and hoped that there wasn't any meaning to the structure. Some way, somehow, the BGC would find a way to smash it to pieces.

His focus was drawn to the model chess pieces next, and it occurred to him that these were the relics they were looking for. Either that or they were random chess pieces in a random stone shrine in the middle of nowhere _and_ the Headmaster was a terrible person. The rest of the Blood Gulch Crew didn't seem to share that opinion, however.

"Cool! We're done right?"

"We better be. I'm exhausted."

"No, we still have to take these back, right?"  
"Back where? We got launched off of a f*cking cliff, what are we supposed to do, climb it?"

"Probably."

"Hell no!"

"Heh heh. Watching Grif suffer trying to climb a cliff? Sign me up. Hell, if he can't make it up, I'll blow him up! With my shotgun."

"Have him suffer annihilation."

"O'Malley, we've talked about annihilating others before, we're not supposed to - oh god, uh, Doctor Grey, he's under control, please don't taser me!"

"Enough. We'll just head back in the direction of our starting place. Hopefully, we don't have to climb, but we don't have any other instructions." Wash restored some semblance of aura-der (shoot me now) and the BGC stepped forward to see their selection. There were chess pieces from both sides, white and black, as well as a random assortment of types. Wash wondered what the chess pieces meant.

 _Maybe the groups of four were made from pairing two similar chess pieces together?_

 _If so, was it based on the type or by the color?_

 _Maybe the chess pieces were identifiers of personality and opposing pieces would be paired together, so maybe a rook represented a blunt/consistent personality and would be paired with a bishop that represented a willingness to go between obstacles?_

 _Maybe pawns were more defensive and knights were more creative?_

"Do these mean anything?" Simmons asked.

"The f*ck if I know," said Tucker, snapping up a black knight. "I'll just grab this, I don't know, pawn?"

"That's not a pawn, that's a knight."

"Do I look like I care?"

"You're wearing a helmet retard," Grif smirked. "We can't see your face, thankfully."

"It's called body language, first of all, and reading bodies is something I'm good at. Bow chicka bow wow. Second, f*ck you."

"Ahahahah! I have three!" Caboose was juggling a black pawn, bishop, and rook rather adeptly.

"Dirty blue!" Sarge shouted, scrambling to snatch as many pieces as he could, shouting "You're not better than us! We've got more pieces than you! Therefore, we win!"

"That's not how chess works!" Simmons was screaming in anguish, horrified at the mockery of chess his teammates were making.

Wash blinked. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Reds and Blues didn't care for symbolism. He shrugged and grabbed a black knight. He made Caboose and Sarge choose one, with Caboose choosing the rook because it looked strong and Sarge holding on a white pawn, the same type of piece Grif had chosen. Doc & Grey chose a black bishop. He then called Carolina, informing her that he'd accomplished their objective.

"Carolina, this is Wash. The relics are at the structure you guessed they were at. I've already got one, and so have the others."

"Good w-" The rest of Carolina's sentence was drowned out by a large crash. Her hurried tone also gave away the fact that she was running, rather quickly from the sound of it. There was also shouting in the background.

"Carolina? What's going on?"

"I think we're pretty close to you. I don't think we can lose the massive scorp-"

"Carolina?"

"Just get ready for a fight!"

"Copy."

Wash turned to the others and shouted for them to stop fooling around and get their weapons ready.

"What's going on?" asked Donut.

"Carolina and some others are on the way." Wash said.

"I don't like that tone of voice. There's usually a 'but' in there." said Doc, before switching into O'Malley and declaring arrogantly, "Let them come!"

"Bow chicka bow wow!"  
Wash sighed. "The 'but' is that they're being chased by a massive scorpion."

"Bow chicka bow wow! Wait, did you say 'massive scorpion' somewhere in that sentence?" asked Tucker.

"Sheila?" said Caboose.  
"Hell no!" Tucker looked terrified, stepping far away from Caboose.

"Doesn't matter. Shotgun can kill it."

"I don't know. Maybe we should just run." Simmons said.

"F*ck that." Grif however, was less inclined to flee for his life as that required running, something he did not like.

Then Carolina, Pyrrha, Jaune, Ruby, and Weiss broke through the treeline, sprinting into the clearing at the same time Yang and Blake arrived. Nora and Ren also appeared, walking in with Yang and Blake.

Then the Deathstalker knocked over several trees and crashed into view.

"F*CK THAT!"

"Bow chicka bow wow!"

Grif (along with the rest of the BGC) appeared far more eager to flee than before, except for Caboose.

"Hey, that isn't Sheila."

Yang looked over at him in confusion. "Sheila? She must have really been someone to get compared to a Deathstalker."

"Yang, don't be rude." Blake didn't want to antagonize the armored men. She remembered them from the previous night, especially the one with yellow accents. That one was someone she wanted to stay far away from, as it reminded her too much of Atlesian special forces. The others, well, they just seemed dangerous in a chaotic stupid kind of way.

Wash turned, scanning the new arrivals. In addition to the firepower the BGC possessed, they now had four more initiates, along with the five who were the primary target of the Deathstalker. The sixteen should be enough to take down this monster, or the Headmaster seriously didn't take the dangers of the forest into account before hurling his new students in.

Carolina saw Wash and the others, as well as several other initiates. She looked around and saw that the red and white girls with them were even with her. After failing to notice Pyrrha and Jaune however, she glanced back and saw Jaune several meters behind her and Pyrrha even further back, almost within reach of the Deathstalker.

"Pyrrha!"

The girl in question looked up and nodded but didn't change her pace at all, maintaining a tantalizing distance in front of the massive scorpion.

 _She's distracting it from Jaune._

Carolina realized her intentions and slowed down slightly, angling her body so she could look back easier. Her heart leaped into her throat when the Deathstalker took a swing at Pyrrha.

"On your left!"

The Mistralian champion jumped up, going through the gap in the Deathstalker's claw before tucking and rolling, barely losing her stride. But that slight difference now meant that she was within the Deathstalker's range. Carolina turned and drew her pistol, firing shots at the massive scorpion's armored carapace and rushing to help her doppelganger. Pyrrha sprinted as quickly as possible to get out of range but wasn't quick enough.

The Deathstalker's tail lashed downwards, Pyrrha evading by the slimmest of margins. She raised her shield to deflect a blow from an armored claw, using the impact to help her jump backward in order to avoid being trampled. Carolina was attracting aggro as well, sprinting forward as Pyrrha ran back. The freelancer knew that her pistol would do nothing to the scorpion, and had pulled out her grappling gun instead. She aimed low for one of the toppled trees behind the scorpion Grimm and fired, the steel claw biting deep into the wood. As soon as she felt the impact, the freelancer activated the pulling mechanism, dragging her rapidly under the Deathstalker. As she released the claw and rolled to a crouch, she glanced back and saw the massive scorpion turn to face her. Carolina jumped, fired, and dragged herself into a nearby tree that was left unharmed by the Deathstalker's rampage through the forest.

"Stay there!"

When Pyrrha heard Carolina's shout, her head snapped up and she stopped herself from attacking the Deathstalker from behind, keeping her body in a defensive stance. She was roughly ten meters away from the massive Grimm, meaning Carolina was about thirty meters away.

Carolina watched the Grimm charge the tree she was standing in. When it didn't smash head first into the trunk as she expected, clearly smarter than it looked, she shook her head in disappointment and crouched in a standard sprinting stance. Accessing her upgrades briefly, she launched herself into the air.

Pyrrha watched the teal freelancer soar, backing away slightly and making positional adjustments so that Carolina would land on top of her. Pyrrha set herself and braced.

Carolina landed on Akouo in a crouch, both feet making contact simultaneously.

In that instant, Pyrrha crouched as well, before pushing backward and upwards.

Carolina used the added momentum to spring forward and flip. Pyrrha had already regained her feet and the two redheads sprinted towards the stone structure, having given Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune enough time to reach the others and created space between them and the massive scorpion.

Ren raised an eyebrow at the instant teamwork from the two armored figures. He was pretty sure that one of them was the undefeated Mistralian champion known as the "Invincible Girl", as her flaming-red hair was pretty unique. The other one looked more like an Atlesian Knight drone but moved far too quickly and lithely to be a machine. They didn't look like a pair, as Pyrrha Nikos's armor was smooth and form-fitting, and clearly designed with an eye for fashion, a stark contrast with the teal figure. The other one's design was far more angular and utilitarian. It was clearly meant to be as tough as it looked. Ren looked around discreetly, taking in the reactions of those around him. The black-haired girl with the bow that almost looked like ears was also watching them carefully and analyzing their actions. She seemed like she was an experienced trainee from one of the rural villages, watching for enemies everywhere. The blonde girl next to her whistled in appreciation while the black-and-red girl that had announced herself as the blonde's sister upon arrival was preparing her weapon, a little too eager to get to fighting. The clearly-Atlesian girl was glaring angrily at the previous girl. The blonde boy was staring at the two women in action with clear awe and what appeared to be guilt. Nora, well, she was eyeing the Grimm the way he stared at his ramen while it was microwaving.

The other armored figures appeared very different from himself and the other girls. Though he and the other girls wore very unique and different outfits, the armor of the unknown figures seemed to have more in common with the teal-armored fighter bolting over to them at this moment. Maybe they were from some new Atlesian prep-combat school?

Meanwhile, Jaune was staring at the chess pieces, wondering what they symbolized. He also wondered how they were going to carry them. They weren't large, but they weren't pocket-sized either.

Carolina and Pyrrha slid to a halt in the midst of the others. Carolina swept the group with practiced eyes, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses to create a plan for the upcoming fight. She had time to organize before the Deathstalker got to close, but reality didn't oblige her as the girl with the red cape dashed off.

Ruby launched herself as quickly as she could at the Deathstalker. She knew she didn't have much in the way of social skills, mainly letting her combat speak for her. Now it was time for Crescent Rose to do the talking and show Weiss Schnee just who she'd been partnered with. Her silver eyes tunneled in on the Deathstalker, the armored scorpion monster the only thing of importance. As a result, she didn't hear the protests from her sister and Jaune Arc and the teal-armored figure, nor did she catch the massive Nevermore that was making its way over.

Carolina groaned internally, wondering how to pull the girl back. She couldn't use the grappling gun, that would injure the girl. She couldn't use her speed upgrades, those weren't fast enough. No other options, she'd just have to rally the others and hope the red-caped girl had more combat skill than common sense. Tactically, aside from laying down to die, there really wasn't a worse option than charging forward at a speed no one else to could match against a monster that probably needed artillery fire to kill.

"Let's go!"

Wash and the other members of the BGC (and assorted medical staff) sprinted forward, Carolina's shout acting as a starter pistol. Yang had already launched herself forward to catch up to Ruby. They made it about thirty yards before a razor-sharp feather storm halted their advance, as well as trapping Ruby in the path of the Nevermore.

Wash's eyes widened as the girl's cape was staked to the ground by an extremely oversized feather.

 _Forget the cape!_

Mental shouts didn't do anything, and he mentally prepared himself for a scene he'd witnessed many times before as the massive stinger lanced towards the trapped initiate.

Yang's lilac eyes darkened as she wove in between the maze of oversized feathers, desperately trying to reach her sister.

Ruby closed her eyes and covered her head in a futile attempt to ward off death. When death didn't arrive on time, she opened her eyes and froze, as motionless as the Deathstalker's stinger. The Schnee heiress's voice broke the silence that enveloped Ruby's world. The caped girl heard but didn't interpret much of the other girl's words.

" _But I guess I can work with you."_

That phrase, however, cut through the shock. A partnership to rock the world of Remnant was formed, a dance of snowflakes and rose petals to entrance all who saw them.

* * *

Ozpin narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the scene before him. He'd decided to partner Schnee and Rose, an idea that was possibly good and possibly bad. Schnee had far more maturity and a more pessimistic view than that of Rose, but both lacked proper social skills and had conflicting personalities. He knew he had been taking a risk, letting Rose into Beacon two years early, and it was for the exact reason she had just displayed. She was too eager, too optimistic. She believed that everything was cut-and-dry, black-and-white. A trait that would make her into a symbol, a trait that many would declare her a hero for. But it was a trait that needed to be adapted, and quickly. It would be better to encourage her to kill her naivete before her naivete killed her. He should probably keep Nikos in a situation close to Rose, in the hope that her mental maturity would rub off.

Perhaps the freelancers could also help. Their experiences clearly demonstrated that they had long taken off the rose-tinted glasses and seen the horrors that humanity could commit. The grey one had demonstrated impressive leadership, corralling the other members of his group while the teal one had been able to synchronize with Nikos and had the air of a shot-caller.

He was glad that he'd allowed Nikos to get into contact with her doppelganger. By altering the launch pad trajectories, Ozpin maintained a surprisingly strong influence as to who got paired with who. Not only had he decided that the teamwork between the redheads was something worth developing, but he'd also been able to test his hypothesis that aura was an asset that couldn't be used by the extraterrestrials. A formidable group of warriors with superior and alien technology was already unnerving enough. If they had the natural privileges of Remnant, they would become infinitely more terrifying.

Ozpin's focus then shifted to Arc. He clearly had confidence problems, likely stemming from his partnership with Nikos and encounter with the freelancer known as Carolina. Ozpin sighed as he recognized that Arc already knew the best course of action to take, but was going to let someone else do it for him due to his lack of confidence in his abilities. He knew that Goodwitch didn't agree with him about letting the blonde into the school. The one thing they had agreed on after getting over that was that Nikos needed to be paired with Arc. However, Glynda didn't think that Jaune should ever be a leader and that placing Nikos under him would not be a good idea. In Ozpin's mind, it was perfectly rational. Nikos didn't want to be a leader. Arc had a better tactical vision and his lack of skill would complement a defensive shot-calling style. He only needed to change his perception of what a Huntsman was and be willing to take up that role. Therefore, a partnership with the amiable and adaptive Pyrrha Nikos would be the best way to push him in the right direction.

As for Arc's team, he needed something that was tactically sound. Nikos would be a mid-range fighter, adept at any combat range and able to execute anything Arc ordered. But she lacked firepower and her shield obstructed her from extreme close-quarters combat. Maybe Belladonna and Xiao Long could be a good fit. But it would be better to keep Xiao Long on a team with her sister. His decision to make Rose a leader would naturally draw a negative reaction from Schnee, and Rose might capitulate to that sort of negative pressure if she didn't have any support from the team.

This year's generation had an incredible amount of talent. It was his job to allocate and create the best environment for it to develop to its full potential.

* * *

The massive raven winged itself away from the battlefield. It had initially smelled blood, but its partner on the ground had been frozen in place and the Nevermore itself had been forced away after taking surface-to-air fire from the blond girl, the pink one, and several of the strange armored figures. It wasn't going to give up so easily, however, now that it was on a warpath. It circled and tracked its prey from high above, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Ruby stepped back into the arms of her sister. The assembled team RWBY made their way back to the relics.

"Hey, red!"

Ruby and Yang looked over to see the teal-armored figure from before walk over to them. Everyone looked over, wondering what was going to happen, except for the grey figure, which was focused on the temporarily-trapped Deathstalker.

"Don't ever do that again. Charging into an enemy that is clearly more than you can handle without a plan or backup is just suicide."

Ruby felt her eyes water slightly at the rebuke. Yang came to her defense and began yelling at the teal-armored figure. Ruby just wanted to prove that she belonged here. But nothing she did today seemed right. First Weiss was angry at her, now someone else. No, she couldn't break down and cry. She promised herself, she would prove that she belonged at Beacon. At the same time, she accepted the unknown woman's criticism.

"It's fine Yang, that really was a stupid decision."

Ruby Rose was finally maturing.

Carolina nodded, the red-caped girl had clearly accepted her criticism. There was no need to admonish her further, that would be a dick move. This girl, Ruby. At least she wasn't as immature as she seemed. If she was, she really shouldn't be here. She wondered if Ozpin had anticipated this. It would make sense, the man was obviously incredible at reading people. If so, that meant he'd admitted Jaune for a reason as well. Carolina decided to pay more attention to him.

"Jaune, what should we do?"

The man in question blinked in surprise as the spotlight was dropped on him. Carolina had been the center of attention as she criticized Ruby. Now that focus was solely upon Jaune Arc.

"Um, we should get the relics, right?"

Everyone nodded, more or less accepting his leadership. Ren spoke up, saying that his partner had already selected one, and everyone else declared that they'd retrieved their relics as well.

A sharp crack from the Deathstalker's ice prison was something that no one else heard. However, Wash had his eye on the thing and alerted everyone else.

"Let's just run."

Again, all eyes turned to Jaune Arc.

"There's no reason for us to fight. Right now, our goal is to get the relics and get out."

Ruby nodded in agreement and spoke up as well, saying "Yeah, Ozpin didn't say anything about fighting Grimm, he just said that we had to destroy anything that tried to stop us."

Hearing agreement from the person who appeared to want to fight the most brought everyone to rationality. With the exception of Jaune, every huntsmen/huntress had forgotten their original objective. Even Pyrrha and Blake had forgotten, Pyrrha distracted by her teamwork with Carolina and Blake by the presence of the BGC. The BGC was different because they were either a well-trained operative focused on completing objectives or they were lazy and were fine with doing the bare minimum.

The sixteen initiates turned and left, running back to the cliff from where they'd been launched. The Deathstalker struggled, angered that its prey paid it no attention and simply jogged away.

* * *

Ozpin smiled. The teal freelancer was proving enormously helpful. Her admonishment of Rose was a large step in helping the young girl mature. Receiving criticism this early and learning to accept it was great, and the freelancer had capitalized on the life-threatening nature of the experience to make it resonate. As for Arc, whether or not she'd meant to gather everyone's attention with her and then shift it onto Arc, by taking charge of the situation and asking Jaune for a plan, she'd established credibility in Jaune's abilities and given him a measure of authority his body language and actions wouldn't have. Therefore, his idea of leaving hadn't been interpreted as a cowardly "let's run away"; it was a rational "stay on target" that would be easier to accept. He watched as the sixteen initiates headed toward the finish line.

The Blood Gulch Crew was evenly spread out among the teams. Carolina had drifted towards Pyrrha, dragging the rest of Blue Team and Dr. Grey over as well. Pyrrha and Jaune were running with the Asian warrior and the hammer girl who'd rode in on a Grimm, something Carolina had trouble believing as she'd only heard about it from Wash.

Red Team was closer to Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. Yang and Ruby stuck together due to the experience with the Deathstalker, bringing their partners together. Red Team followed them on the orders of Sarge, who recognized that recruiting Pyrrha was a lost cause due to her friendliness with Carolina. Obviously enough, they weren't going to fight for Pyrrha against the number one freelancer. As a result, they set their sights on Ruby, with Doc tagging along with Red Team, partly because he was more familiar with Simmons and mostly because he wanted to stay away from Doctor Grey.


End file.
